A chance to make it better
by Dono the Stonemage
Summary: All of Konoha has been destroyed and Naruto is prepared to set the Kyuubi free to wipe out their destroyers, but the Kyuubi has another idea. a time travel fic. changed to T at reviewers suggestion.
1. In the midst of war

1This is a rewrite of chapter 1. I am probably going to go through and rewrite all the chapters before continuing with the story. I want to say thanks to all the reviewers that have supported me so far, and to those who are willing to continue to support me by reviewing. To them and everyone else who reads this story, I apologize for the wait. I hope you find the rewrite to be better than the original.

Chapter 1 – In the midst of war

Disclaimer: its not that I don't want to own Naruto… but I don't.

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Jumping over an approaching leg, Naruto finished his set of hand seals and called out his attack. '**Fire type: Dragon flame technique' **a thick stream of fire burst out of his mouth, quickly incinerating his opponent. Flipping backwards, over another enemies punch, he flung two kunai in opposite directions, taking out two more nins. Once he landed he swept the legs of the nin who had tried to punch him out from under him and, twisting sharply, shoved his last kunai through his enemies temple. Crouching down for a moment to catch his breath he surveyed the landscape. It had once been a training ground, one he had used often. Now it was barely recognizable.

Standing up from his crouch he immediately snatched a stray kunai out of the air. After creating a small group of shadow clones, he ordered them to jump in unison and throw their kunai in the direction that the stray had came from. Flying through the hand seals as one they shouted, '**shadow shuriken technique**'. The small group of kunai soon turned into hundreds that flew at a group of enemy nin with deadly success. After that he jumped into the thickest mass of enemy nins that was closest to him and started fighting with taijutsu, buying some time to let Kyuubi replenish his chakra.

As he went through the stances of his own unique style, taking out any of those who were foolish enough to come within striking distance, his mind went back to just three days ago, when the madness had all started.

**Flashback**

The meeting had been called not to any specific group in Konoha, but to all of it. Naruto couldn't remember anything like this ever happening before so he knew it must be important.

'It darn well better be important,' he thought to himself, 'interrupting my training like that.'

He had grown a lot in the year he had been back from his training trip with Jiarya and was always training when he a free moment from missions. He had taken the chuunin exam a few months after he got back and ended up beating every opponent who came against him with ridiculous ease. Many people had changed their view on him after that as they realized that if he really was a 'demon' he could have killed them all at any time, and with little trouble.

Turning the corner he froze, seeing the mass of people before him. Konoha was a very big village and almost all of its citizens, if indeed not all of them, stood before him. The hokage tower stood majestically above the crowd, the symbol on its front proudly standing out.

"Hey, Naruto," a familiar voice shouted snapping him out of his thoughts. Turning Naruto saw Shikamaru walking towards him.

"Hey Shika, what's up?" Naruto responded, repeating the nickname he'd heard Ino call him.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed loudly, before taking a long puff out of the cigarette he had stuck in the corner of his mouth, "I was just going to tell you that all shinobi are to report to the spot in the front, since this apparently concerns us the most."

"Oh, good," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. He got the impression that he should have known this.

"Well let's go, the sooner we get this over with the better," Shikamaru sighed, walking forward.

With a small smirk for his friends antics Naruto fell in step beside Shikamaru and soon they were at the front of the crowed, joining the rest of the rooky nine who were all ready there.

Looking around Naruto noticed that Kakashi was already there and was intently reading his precious book. His lateness hadn't really been a problem since Tsunade had said that if he didn't start showing up on time she would ban Jiarya's books from Konoha. Since then he had started showing up exactly a minute early for everything.

Noticing Tsunade walking to the podium a sudden hush fell on the large crowd. As soon as she started talking you could have heard a pin drop. Though Naruto felt very impressed by this, considering the amount of people, that thought was swept away at the ragged sight of his kage. She had blood on her robes and looked like she had been crying.

"Shinobi, citizens… Konoha. I have called you together with very grave news. This morning a shinobi stumbled into my office half dead. After giving me his message he promptly died, despite my efforts to revive him..." at this Tsunades voice cracked, and Shizune stepped forward to put a hand on her shoulder. Taking a deep breath Tsunade continued, "that person was none other than Jiarya of the legendary three." A collective gasp was heard and the crown broke into a murmur.

Naruto felt stunned, 'Ero-sennin…is dead,' he thought as the information slowly sank in. Feeling a hand on his shoulder he looked up, Shikamaru gave his shoulder a knowing squeeze. Looking around he saw all the rooky nine looking at him sadly. They all knew that Jiraiya and him had been close.

"The information he brought," Tsunade continued after the crowd quieted down, "was very important. It seems two of our strongest enemies have united, their goal is to wipe us out, and they are practically at out door step."

A scream could be heard somewhere in the crowd and talking broke out again.

"They are a union between the Hidden Sound and the Hidden Cloud villages," Tsunade pressed on, "they are calling themselves the Army of Thunder. They should be here in about a day. All citizens are asked to leave the village immediately, you are advised to take only what you can carry. All shinobi are to take this time to rest and prepare for this threat. You are to report back here in five hours to help prepare a defense. You are dismissed"

**End Flashback**

A fist struck Naruto's face bringing him back to the present. Cursing himself for his carelessness he quickly took the offending nin out. After he had beaten the rest of the nins around him, leaving a circle of bodies were he was standing, he looked around to see if there was anywhere he could be of help. Gai and Kakashi were standing back to back fighting fiercely. There was a wide path of body's leading up to them, showing what direction they had come from. Seeing that they were exhausted but still holding their own he looked on. A small group of Hyuuga, probably the last of the once great clan, Naruto couldn't help but think grimly, stood fighting together. Having used up most of the chakra that fulled their feared attacks they were dropping alarmingly fast. Naruto tried his best to rush over to help, but by the time he got there the last had already fallen. A tear escaped his eye as he recognized Neji's face.

'Now I'm the last of the old group,' Naruto thought sadly.

Looking around again he realized it was becoming harder and harder to find Konoha nins in the raging mass. There were just too many enemies. Too many replacements while Konoha had none.

A nin charged him with a sword, which he easily dodged before simply reaching up and snapping the nins neck. He sighed as the nin slumped to the ground. It almost didn't bother him to kill anymore. Almost.

Biting his thumb and smearing it on the symbol that was on his arm, Naruto summoned his own sword and ran forward cutting a path through his foes. That's when he noticed him.

'Sasuke,' he thought grimly, 'or rather Orochimaru.' He had failed to save his friend and it ate away at him. And almost as bad, he had broken a promise.

He had discovered that the curse seal did in fact influence some of Sasuke's actions, but instead of totally controlling him, as Sakura had insisted it had, it merely amplified his own negative desires. Not that it mattered anymore, he had learned too late. Sasuke was gone forever, his body being used by another's soul.

Naruto started to fight his way to Sasuke, taking down everyone that got in his path, including a familiar robed figure. The Akatsuki had apparently decided to join the fight soon after the invasion had begun, automatically destroying what little chance konoha had had. Tsunade had died taking out the leader of the group after she had beaten two of its other members. Sakura had also died killing a member. Sasuke would have been happy to know that his brother was now dead. Naruto really wouldn't be surprised if that was the last one he had just killed, he wasn't counting on it however.

As he neared Sas...Orochimaru, as he now had to think of him, he noticed that the evil snake was already fighting Kakashi. The surrounding nin had all backed up, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire of the two powerful ninjas, which had created a loose circle that showed the bodies of the fallen within it. Seeing bright green and orange among the fallen he knew Lee and his sensei were together again. He struggled to get closer so he could join the fight, but before he could break through the circle Kakashi was already dead.

Orochimaru pulled his hand from Kakashi's his chest as the blue glow of a chidori slowly faded away. With a cry of despair Naruto rushed forward and caught is sensei's falling body. Gently he lowered him to the ground and closed his teachers glassy eyes. All the sadness and despair that he had been holding in since the start of the war then began to overwhelm him.

"Ah, there you are Naruto-kun," Orochimaru's voice said. "I believe with Kakashi dead that makes you the last leaf nin. tell me, how does it feel?"

'The last one?' Naruto thought disbelievingly, not bothering to try and stop his freely flowing tears 'surly there's more… no he's right, I can't since any others presence.' Standing up Naruto looked around. Well over a hundred shinobi stood in a thick circle around him and Orochimaru, all bore the sigil of the Army of Thunder.

'That's about a tenth of the original force' he thought, suddenly filled with pride. The Konoha nins had been severely out numbered and had only a day to prepare, yet they had all proven themselfs strong and worthy people.

"How does it feel?" Naruto asked in a gravely voice, slowly standing up, "it sucks, but I can't but feel a sense of pride. Not one Konoha nin fled when they were given the chance, Orochimaru. They fought better than ten to one odds with little warning, and they all fought until the end."

"Yes, yes," Orochimaru laughed, "but that doesn't change the fact that there all dead, now does it? Once you die Konoha will be no more, just a story, a memory from the past soon to be forgotten. Now let's stop this pointless talking and begin shall we?"

"Very well, snake-teme" Naruto said angrily as he made a ram seal, "let's get wild."

And so the battle commenced, each bringing out techniques previously unused. Elemental techniques took down nins who weren't quick enough to get back. More techniques took out those who had backed up, their power letting them reach great distances. Most of those were done by Orochimaru who cursed every time Naruto dodged his attacks.

As time wore on the battle wore down, both nin running lower and lower on chakra. By this time only about seventy nins were left besides Naruto and Orochimaru.

Naruto dodged another swipe of Orochimaru's sword, and swiped back with his own. It was the sword of the frog summons, a weapon not seen by humans for hundreds of years. Gamabunta had given it to him after he had made chuunin, and taught him how to summon it. It held its own quite nicely against Orochimaru's 'grass cutter'.

With a loud clang both swords flew out of their owners hands. 'well so much for that,' Naruto thought. Charging his opponent he threw a punch, which Orochimaru easily dodged. The snake sanin followed up with a swift kick which Naruto rolled under before trying to uppercut the startled sanin. Flipping back Orochimaru easily dodged, throwing his foot out to kick Naruto while he was still in the air. Naruto dodged by jumping back. Now standing a good distance from each other they eyed each other warily while trying to catch their breath. It had all taken less then five seconds.

"You are indeed skilled, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said with a smirk on his face.

"yeah, well you suck, snake freak," Naruto panted.

"ku, ku, ku," the last sanin laughed between breaths, "the point is this battle is lasting to long, I say we finish it now. What do you say to one last attack Naruto-kun?"

"I agree, lets get this over with," Naruto responded darkly.

Running through several and seals in the blink of an eye, the sanin had a chidori flashing in his palm within seconds.

Placing his arm strait out to his right Naruto charged up a fully perfected rasengan, before bending his arm and bringing it down to his side, ready to thrust it forward.

Pausing for a moment, which the observing nins would swear lasted for hours, the two charged. Meeting directly in the middle of where they both had been standing they both thrust out their last attack. A bright light flashed, followed by a powerful shock wave. When it started to clear all the remaining nins saw the silhouette of the victor, but couldn't tell who it was.

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Coughing up blood, Naruto dropped to his knees. The chidori had pierced deep into his chest. Looking at the corps of what used to be his best friend, he winced, it was torn to shreds.

Coughing up more blood Naruto took a shallow breath before slipping into his mind.

Having done this so many times it didn't take him long to find the room with Kyuubi.

"Well that's that," Naruto said, sitting down in front of the cage. "any chance for survival?"

"No," the demon replied, "your body had used too much of my chakra and is starting to reject it, healing will be impossible."

"Figured as much," Naruto replied.

"I hope you haven't forgotten out deal, brat" the fox growled.

"I never break my promises, besides why else would I be here?" the last leaf shinobi replied.

Hysterical laughter suddenly erupted from the giant fox "Yes, free! Free after these long if few years of imprisonment." The demon rejoiced.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't forget to wipe those losers out once you're out. And remember, you agreed to stop needlessly attacking people after this."

"Yes, yes, foolish human, as the greatest of the tailed beasts I swear it. Now hurry we're almost out of time."

"Well…it's been, err… ok so it sucked, but still, I guess this is good bye Kyuubi. And thanks again for your help during the war. Now tell me what to do." Naruto said smiling up at Kyuubi.

Kyuubi looked at Naruto for a moment, before sighing. 'I must be growing sentimental in my old age,' Kyuubi thought. But remembering his time in the boy he couldn't help but feel… uncomfortable, demons don't feel sad. He had always thought that all humans were worthless little sacks of nothing, but after seeing life through this boys eyes he realized something. Not all humans were what he thought they were. And if he had ever met a truly worth being it was this boy. He realized suddenly that he respected Naruto, not as a shinobi or a human, but as a truly decent being. It was then that he made his decision.

"All right boy, do the hand seals as I show them to you. If you do even one wrong we both die. And we need to hurry, what's left of those pathetic humans out there are starting to move in."

"All right, I'm ready," Naruto responded concentrating on the images Kyuubi was sending to his mind. Bird, dog, horse, snake… and so on. Another minute passed and Naruto was on his last few symbols. As he finished he thrust both hands on the ground as he was instructed.

"Well done… kit," was the last thing he heard before blinding whiteness overwhelmed him.

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End chap. 1

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So what do you think? Was it good, bad, or so so. What could I have done better? Questions? R and R.


	2. Life, it happens

1Chap. 2- Life, it happens. Re-write posted 7-22-07

Disclaimer: "Do you own naruto?" "No I do not own naruto, good day."

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Bright white completely enveloped him. There was no change in his surroundings yet Naruto got the feeling that he was traveling at a high speed. It felt sort of like when Gamabunta had taken a large leap and was quickly descending back to earth.

'So this is what death must be like,' he thought grimly to himself, 'not exactly what I was expecting.'

With a loud pop the feeling of movement stopped and the bright white quickly faded to a dull grey. Everything seemed so warm and comfortable, he felt like he could lie there forever.

'So this is the after life, I wonder which place I went,' he thought, before he felt a extremely uncomfortable poking in his back. 'Well, crap. At least Sasuke-teme is probably here too.'

The grey around Naruto quickly slid away as he sat up, revealing a small bedroom. Looking down he saw a scraggly grey sheet in his lap, illuminated by the bright sunlight shining through a nearby window.

'If I'm not dead, then where the heck am I,' Naruto thought, a confused look on his face.

Twisting his body awkwardly to the side he slung his legs over the edge of the bed and immediately froze.

'What the crap,' was all he could think as he looked at his legs. They looked small, like a child's. Bringing his hands in front of his face he looked at them as well. 'I…I'm…what the crap!' After sliding off the bed he half stumbled half ran to where he somehow knew the bathroom must be.

After climbing on a step stool and looking into a small dirty mirror, which was above an even dirtier sink, he immediately passed out.

Waking several minuets later he slowly got to his feet, wincing at a sharp pain on the back of his head.

'Kyuubi!,' he thought bewilderedly, 'Kyuubi, explain this. Why the heck do I look like I'm a little kid' After waiting a few minutes with no reply he sank into his mind, traveling quickly to Kyuubi's flooded chamber. Quickly walking up to the bars with the seal tag, which he noticed was still very whole and intact, he tried again.

"Kyuubi... answer me dang it! Where are you," he shouted, peering as deep into Kyuubi's cell as he could. Strangely after a few feet everything turned into a big black blur. "Kyuubi!" he tried again with no response.

Reluctantly returning to his body he started walking around in circles, thinking hard. Lifting up his shirt he channeled a little chakra to his stomach, instantly a complicated seal appeared. For some reason it had been difficult to channel the chakra, but that was beside the point. The seal was still there.

'So he didn't escape,' naruto thought, 'did something go wrong? No, it couldn't have. I did the hand seals just as he showed me.'

Walking back to the bed he pulled himself up using the sheets and sat down, slowly taking a deep breath.

'Ok, lets look at this rationally,' he thought, relaxing like Jiarya had taught him to, 'first, where am I?' Looking around he thought he recognized this room from some where, but couldn't remember where.

'Wait, this kind of looks like my first apartment. The one I had before I started the academy. That doesn't mean anything though, a lot of apartments look like this. Moving on, what happened to the Kyuubi? Obviously he's still in me or the seal would be gone. And why did he call me 'kit' after I completed the seals? It actually sounded friendly... Third, and passably the most disturbing, why in the heck do I look like a little kid?!'

The thoughts floated around his head for a few moments before it struck him. Looking around the room again to confirm it he realized it must be true. It _was_ his room.

'That blinding light…this apartment…my body…Kyuubi, he must have sent me back…'

Lying slowly back on the bed he stared at the ceiling with a feeling of surrealness.

'That spot on the ceiling looks like a face. That annoying spring is poking me in the back again. Kyuubi sent me back in time to when I was a kid.'

It felt like he laid there only a few minutes, yet when he came too the sun had almost disappeared behind the mountains. Sliding off the bed he walked over to the window and looked at the faces carved into the mountain across from him. Four faces looked out over Konoha; the fourth one seemed to be looking strait at him.

'It's doesn't look right without Tsunade baa-chan's face up there,' the Kyuubi host thought sadly to himself.

As the sun finally disappeared, a single beam escaped. Its golden light shone off a set of hopeful eyes. 'Tsunade hasn't become hokage yet, which means there hasn't been a war yet either. That means everyone is still alive: my friends, Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiarya, heck judging by how old I am, even old man Sandaime!' A tear escaped his eye, running half way down his face before being wiped away. Naruto felt the hope he had abandoned when the last of his friends had fallen slowly return. Would he be able to save his friends this time around? Would he be strong enough?

Darkness descended quickly and the street lamps flickered on. Walking to the opposite side of his little apartment, he switched on his light. Moving to his bed he surveyed his surroundings.

'Man, I forgot what a little dump this place was.' His eyes trailed from a crack in the wall, to the blotchy carpet, and up to a calendar pined on the wall that looked like it had been dug out of a soggy trash can. 'It probably was,' he reminded himself.

Walking over to the calendar so he could get a closer look, he studied the dates on it. About half the days were crossed off, and on the day after the last diagonal red mark there was something written. The writing was barley understandable but after a moment he figured it out, it read simply: one month. Flipping the cover a month ahead he read another barely legible message: first day!!! Suddenly he remembered this calendar. He had looked forward to the end of each day just so he could make another mark on it, counting down each day for the three months before he'd started. He had looked forward to going to the academy more than anything he ever had. Not that he'd had many things to look forward to.'I guess I'll have to do it again,' he thought, half happy at the chance half annoyed that he had to go through it again.

Glancing at his alarm clock, which had been a present from Sandaime Hokage, he saw that it was still fairly early in the evening. Looking around his apartment one more time he tried to think of something to do, but his mind remained strangely blank. A large yawn escaped him and he realized how incredibly tired he was.

'Aw well, nothing better to do,' he thought, crossing his apartment to turn off his light, 'might as well get some sleep.'

Stumbling across the room he felt his way to his bed and pulled himself up. After pulling his sheets over himself he stared at the ceiling for a moment before deciding that his mind was just too hazy for thoughts and so fell into a deep sleep.

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Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!

Peeping his head out from under his blanket, Naruto looked at the clock with more than a little annoyance. Sighing while pushing himself up he reached over and turned his alarm off. The red numbers on its face told him it was 8:00 in the morning. 'Hmm, later than I thought,' he groggily thought, 'but, why did I have it on in the first place?' It took him a second to remember that the Hokage had told him to start setting it early so he would be used to getting up when the academy started. He had been eager to do something to prepare, so he had started using it before he had to. However he'd felt six o'clock was just too early, so he'd decided to set it at eight instead. He chuckled at the thought.

After popping his back, or trying to, his body automatically started its morning routine. First was stretching, then a quick warm up to get the blood going, which left him more tired than he thought it should. When he started off his normal exercises he really noticed the difference. Where he had been able to do hundreds of pushups before now his little body could barely do more than ten. The same thing happened with his crunches, sit ups, and other exercises. A little put out about having to retrain his whole body, and already feeling sore from what he just did, Naruto grumpily stomped over to his fridge to find something to eat.

When he was done eating, and after he had thrown away half the contents of his fridge, he sat at his rickety old table for a moment trying to think of something to do. 'Might as well take a walk, he thought to himself.

As he mentally prepared himself to see the village again a feeling of sadness rushed through him. He quickly suppressed his feelings and forced his mind blank. He was grateful to Jiarya for teaching him to do that, it had helped him think much clearer on missions and during the war. He'd used it so much it had become second nature.

Taking a deep breath he rose from his chair and quickly got dressed. Taking one last look around his apartment he walked out, locking the door behind him.

After he exited the main building he started on a path that he knew would eventually take him all the way around Konoha, before strategically leaving him at a certain ramen stand by midday.

The sun felt comfortable on his back as he started on his way. Seeing villagers going about their tasks he would nod and flash them a smile. Some looked at him oddly, while others looked on in open hate, and a few even returned his nod. He remembered some had been indifferent towards him before he started his pranking career. An ageing old man that had been kind to him when he met him a few days before the war started walked by.

"Good morning, Taro-san," he said politely.

Pausing the man stared at him, a look of pure distrust on his face. Without answering he hurriedly walked away.

'He must be one of the ones that changed their minds after the chuunin exam,' Naruto thought sadly, as the man turned a corner and disappeared. He became ever sadder as he realized, for the first time, that he had to start his dream over again at the very beginning. When the war had started the greater half of the villagers had accepted him. Now only a handful of people acknowledged him at all.

'This time around everyone will acknowledge me before I become chuunin,' the demon host exclaimed to himself as he chased away the feelings of defeat that had griped him.

Arriving at a park he decided to take a short rest, the walk having taken more out of him then he thought it would. Walking over to an unoccupied bench he sat down and slowly looked over the park. He had frequented this park when he was a child and had even met some of his future class mates here. As a matter of fact he could recognize a few of them out there now. Fond memories of their future selves popped into his mind and, before he could stop them, memories of their deaths were as well.

**Flashback**

_Naruto dodged another kunai and realized that the fighting had been swept else where. A group of Konoha nins were briefly left to catch their breath. It was still the first day of fighting and so far it was fairly even. Then again, they all realized that a secondary force was waiting to attack until night fall, so maybe it wasn't going well after all._

_In the distance Naruto's small group saw a larger group cutting their way to the center of the enemy force. Naruto recognized a large number of them as being the Aburame clan, easily identified by their signature attire. They were doing unbelievably well. Swarms of bugs flew around dropping countless enemies. A small group around the bug clan assisted with a wide range of weapons. One in particular was amazing as hundreds of kunai sprayed out of the figure without end. Naruto easily recognized the person by the buns sitting on either side of her head. Ten-Ten was taking down enemies in large groups as well as finishing off the leftovers from the Aburame. She had proved herself a very capable kunoichi._

_Naruto's group kept watching, as the quickly prepared for the next wave of fighting. But as the large Konoha group advanced a lone nin suddenly stepped into their path, raiseing his right arm. Before Naruto could think of where he had seen the devise the other nin carried, a faint ringing reached his ears, making him feel slightly nauseous. His face paled as the bugs surrounding the group, as well as the group itself, immediately dropped. A horde of enemy nins immediately swooped in. With a cry of fury Naruto and his group rushed forward to help, but no matter how hard they tried they couldn't move fast enough. Naruto watched as Ten-Ten was taken down from behind while she was still being sick from the attack. Shino, who was a few feet away, tried to rise and attack the offending nin but fell over sideways and was immediately killed as well. By the time Naruto and his group arrived no one was left alive. It didn't take him log to find their first attacker, whom he quickly dealt with himself._

_The first couple of the old group had fallen while first day was still in its prime._

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_The second day arrived with no chance of rest. Naruto, and what was left of the group he was with, had regrouped with everyone who could make it below the hokage monument. With a large force leaf nins gathered together the enemy attacks were becoming less effective and they were being pushed back. He had found Kiba and Hinata a few hours earlier and they were watching each others backs while quickly taking a breather. What happened next happened so fast that Naruto didn't realize what happened until afterwards._

_Kiba and Akamaru, in their newest and most powerful fused state, in which they strongly resembled a werewolf, stood confidently to his right. Popping another soldier pill in his mouth to keep the jutsu going Kiba looked out at the enemy nin and growled, "there retreating." Looking in the same direction Naruto felt a feeling of uneasiness well up in him. The enemy nin were all rushing back._

_Before he could comment he felt a strong hand push him on the chest before a bright light and the smell of burnt hair reached him. Looking up from his position on the ground he nearly puked. A smoking crater had replaced the ground on which they had been standing. Kiba was no more. Hearing a moan to his side and then a sob he looked over to Hinata who was also on the ground. "Kiba-kun…" she said sadly. Standing up Naruto walked over to Hinata and helped her up as well. Just then a loud whistling sound was heard and they both looked up. A bright pulsing object was rising from the retreating enemy nins flanks, and as it reached its pinnacle it tilted and began a rapid decent towards the Konoha nins. Before he could react Hinata rushed forward to the front of the group and took a familiar stance. Making a ram seal she released her chakra and began to spin._

_Naruto had seen Neji's kaiten at the chuunin exams and had heard tell of Hiashi's kaiten during the sound/sand invasion. This one left them far behind. The enemy object hit Hinata's kaiten and exploded. Because of the rotation of the spin the majority of the blast was directed harmlessly to the side. What didn't get thrown to the side splashed over Hinata's defense and incinerated hokage monument. When the kaiten stopped Naruto was the only one to rush forward, everyone else was to stunned. Hinata was all ready dead when he got there, yet a proud smile graced her lips._

**flashback end**

Grabbing his head between his hands Naruto forced the memories back out of his mind. He had decided he wasn't going to do this. He couldn't have saved them. He had tried as hard as he could, he should have no regrets. Besides, they were alive now weren't they? 'But they're not going to be the same,' he realized, 'with my presence here, they may never be.' The aching in his chest grew till it was unbearable as he thought of all his lost friends. Every one of his precious people had died, yet he was still alive. His beloved Konoha, which he was willing to give his life for was destroyed, yet he was whole.

Ever since Naruto was a small child in his original time line, he had worn a mask. This mask was used to cover up pain, depression, and all the sadness that had accumulated over the years. It would slip sometimes, like when he was feeling particularly low. It had even cracked a few times, like when he fought Sasuke at valley end. Now it shattered, bursting into millions of pieces.

Getting up from the bench, Naruto ran, pushing himself as hard as his little body could stand. He didn't notice a small figure leaving the park to chase after him. All he knew was that he had to get away from the familiar faces that were smiling on that playground. He had to go to a place where he could let out his emotions undisturbed. Buildings quickly turned into trees and yet he kept running.

In a small clearing in the forest which was against Konoha's outer wall he stopped, slumping down against the wall.

A piercing wail escaped his throat as his emotions overwhelmed him. Everything he had ever worked for, everything he had ever loved had been destroyed before his very eyes, and he hadn't been able stop it. "I'm sorry!" his mournful shout filled the air, before he continued in a much weaker voice, "I'm so sorry, everyone, I tried… I tried..."

Naruto buried his head in his knees and rocked back and forth, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs. If he would have looked up just then he would have seen a flash of pink as a small body rushed from behind a tree to a closer one.

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Haruno Sakura was having fun at her favorite park when a boy she had seen playing there sometimes walked up and sat on a bench. She was just about to shyly invite the boy to play when a sad look had crossed his face. She stood transfixed as his face gained a far away look before a look much sadder than the first crossed his face and he promptly got up and ran away. Curious and feeling sorry for the boy she followed, forgetting about her mothers warning to stay in the playground. The boy had quickly gotten ahead of her in the forest and she had briefly thought she had lost him when the saddest sound she had ever heard filled the woods. Following the sound to its source she found the boy again. Dodging from tree to tree she got closer and closer until she was only a few feet away. She stood watching him for a while until her shyness disappeared and she walked forward to sit next to him, letting her long bangs cover her face. After awhile she realized that the boy still didn't realize she was there so she slowly reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. The boy immediately froze and slowly raised a tear stained face to look at her.

XXXXX

Naruto felt a hand rest on his shoulder and he immediately froze. He had been too caught up in thoughts to notice the approaching person. Slowly lifting his head he saw a small girl sitting next to him. Though her face was covered by her hair he immediately recognized her, he only knew one person with that color hair. Memories of her death came to the surface of his mind when she suddenly spoke, breaking his thoughts.

"Hi," she spoke shyly, "my name is Sakura. What's yours?"

"Naruto," he responded in a gravely voice, "why are you here?"

"I followed you from the play ground, you looked sad," she responded, a sad look spreading across her own face.

His memories hammered at him repeatedly tried to break free, but for some reason they were easier to deal with when she was talking to him.

'No,' he thought bitterly, 'I deserve to feel like this after I failed them all.'

"Please go away, Sakura. I would like to be by my self."

A slightly hurt look crossed her young face but quickly vanished, replaced by determination.

"No," she said, tucking her hair behind her ears, "I don't want you to be sad, so I'll stay until your not. Besides," she continued in a quieter voice, "I don't know how to get back from here."

He couldn't help but think, 'is this really Sakura?' He certainly never remembered her being this nice to him until after they had been in team seven for quite some time.

Then, for the first time, it fully hit him. This was a second chance. Everything that happened in the first time line from academy on had yet to happen, he could change everything. A feeling of hope filled his chest, chasing away his bad memories until they were a dull murmur in the back of his head.

"Sakura, if you wait until my sadness is gone then you would be here forever, because my memories will always keep a part of me sad." He saw that the girl was sad at this and smiled, "but, I think I'll be ok. And maybe this time around I'll get enough happy memories to out weigh the bad."

Sakura didn't really understand everything Naruto had said but she smiled back anyways. "Well, that's good. Will you come and play with me at the park now?" the young girl asked, happy that the boy looked better.

"Sure Sakura-chan," he said, noticing a small blush from the girl at the suffix, "Let's go play at the park."

XXXXX

End chap 2

XXXXX


	3. Encounters

Re-write posted 8/6/07

Disclaimer: Oh, but that I would own Naruto. But alas tis' not so.

Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are awesome. Reeeally really awesome! Reeelly awesome! Yeah, awesome.

Chapter 3- Encounters

The sun peeked over the horizon, casting its first tendrils of light on the faces of the Hokage Monument. A single bird began its morning song and as if that were some sort of signal the rest soon joined in. As the sun continued to rise, spreading its light over the village of Konoha, an apartment room slowly filled with light, revealing its contents. A old table with a phone book propped under a too short leg, a messy kitchen that looked to have never known a real cleaning, and a worn down bed with odd bumps sticking out in random places among its sheets.

On this bed, lying fast asleep was Uzumaki Naruto, previously a chuunin of the leaf and revered by many, now a young child around the age of six, who was yet to begin his academy years. A clock sat on a night stand by the bed, facing the young boy, moments away from waking its owner.

The moments quickly passed and Naruto was slowly woken by the beeping of his alarm clock. Groggily reaching over to turn it off he sat up and yawned. It had been a week since he had found himself back in his six year old body. Most of that time had been spent exercising and spending time at the park with Sakura.

Following his morning routine of exercises, which he could do half again as many as when he first tried a week ago, he stumbled to his kitchen to find something to eat.

Quickly finishing his food Naruto returned to his bed. Sitting on the far side, so he could lean against the wall, Naruto closed his eyes and sank into his mind. He had yet to make contact with Kyuubi, though not from lack of trying, and was starting to get really impatient. The only thing that kept him from yelling out in frustration when he visited Kyuubi's flooded chamber was the fact that the black blur that kept him from seeing anything behind the cages bars continued to creep back, leaving several more feet exposed each time he visited.

Returning to his body once again Naruto sighed loudly and decided to plan out his day.

'What day is it anyway,' he thought, standing up and walking over to his calendar. He had kept up his previous habit of crossing out the days of the week as they passed so Naruto easily got his answer: Saturday, July 22.

In the date box there was a poorly drawn man with a pipe sticking out of his mouth. 'Hmm,' Naruto thought to himself, trying to remember what that meant. 'Oh yeah! That means old man Sarutobi is coming for a visit.'

An exited smile spread across Naruto's face at the thought. He was going to see his oldest friend and grandfather figure again.

He had learned after Sarutobi's death in the other time line that his monthly living allowance came from the old Hokage's own pocket and not from some sort of city fund. He had also gotten a nice share of the Professors' money after he died, as was stated in his will, which had helped him live until he could better provide for himself.

'I am soooo going to save the old man this time,' he thought, grinning at the prospect, but then his excitement drained a little as a thought flashed across his mind, 'how?'

He had been meaning to think about the best way to change things for the better in this time line, but had managed to put it off so far. Also, he realized, he would have to think of the consequences of the changes. For example, if he became anything more then dead last in his class in the academy then he wouldn't be paired up with Sakura and Sasuke who were the middle and top of the class. Come to think of it, because of his early connection with Sakura she may just change and be better than the middle student in class.

'Hmmm, this is going to be awfully difficult,' he realized. For every change that he would make there would be many consequences. People would change and circumstances would change, and that would make the future more and more hazy for himself. Of course there would be things that would remain the same, like if he became the top genin instead of dead last and got another team Gato would still take over Wave and Tazuna would still come to Konoha for body guards.

Turning his thoughts back to the Hokage he realized that if he saved Sarutobi, then Tsunade would never come back to the village and become Hokage, which would have many consequences of its own. Sakura not becoming her apprentice and reaching her full potential was just one negative outcome. Old mad Sarutobi had become too soft to lead during a time of war again.

'I'll just have to think of a way around it then,' he thought determinedly, 'I have plenty of time after all.'

As for how to make all his friends stronger without changing them too much, well he would have to just subtly encourage them. After all, he knew he couldn't become strong enough to save them all, his experience in the war had taught him that. He would probably have to show them that he was stronger than them and encourage them to keep up. That would defiantly work on Sasuke, but people like Hinata and Shikamaru he would have to think of something else.

Naruto was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the first set of knocks on his door. Catching the second set he sprang out of bed and to the door. Cautiously opening the door a fraction of the way open he looked out, a smile quickly spread across his face.

"Old man!!" he exclaimed happily as he opened the door the rest of the way, "come on in!"

With a slight chuckle the old man walked in looking around. With a small puff on his pipe he looked back at Naruto and said warmly, "I don't suppose you've changed your mind about letting me give you more money to live off of, Naruto?"

Laughing out loud Naruto replied, "I manage with what I get old man."

Smiling back at the young boy who tried so hard to get people to accept him he allowed himself to be led into the kitchen where Naruto started preparing some tea.

"So anything new?" the Hokage asked as they waited for the water to boil.

"Not really," Naruto responded out loud, while thinking 'at least nothing I can tell you.' "With you?"

"Unfortunately not," Sandaime responded with a kind smile, "you'll find less and less new things as you get older."

"Aw, you're not that old. Well, you are old, and I do call you 'old man', but your not _that _old," Naruto said quickly.

Chuckling again the Hokage waited for the water to boil and then for Naruto to get up and take the whistling pot off the stove.

"Are you still looking forward to going to the academy," the Hokage asked as Naruto poured the hot liquid into his cup.

"Yep, I can't wait," Naruto responded in a happy voice.

"Good," the Hokage responded with slightly raised eyebrows.

'Crap, I should have acted more enthusiastic,' Naruto realized. He had been even more "enthusiastic" when he was a kid then when he first became a genin.

Taking a sip from his tea the Hokage continued, "I hear you made a new friend this last week. How's that going?"

"Oh, you mean Sakura-chan? Its going great!" Naruto responded in a loud voice, trying to sound more like his old self. "She's really nice, and I found out that she is going to be going to the academy with me!"

"It's good to hear that you made a friend Naruto, I hope you stay friends for a long time," the Hokage said taking another sip of tea from his cup, which was surprisingly pretty good.

They continued talking for a while before the Hokage stood up. "Well, my time is up. If I don't get back to the office they might send out a search party for me."

Standing as well Naruto escorted the old Hokage to the door. Before he left Naruto threw his arms around him and gave him a quick hug.

"It was good to see you again," Naruto said his face carefully blank.

Though startled for a moment the Hokage gave him a quick hug in return. After he left Naruto closed the door behind him and bravely looked towards the kitchen. He couldn't put it off anymore, it was time to clean the kitchen.

XXXXX

Sarutobi stood outside Naruto's door for a few moments lost in thought. The sound of water running and the clank of dished being cleaned brought him back to the present. That had indeed been strange. He had noticed several things that he had not expected. First, Naruto had apparently cleaned his apartment, aside from the kitchen, which was a definite first. Second, though he had noticed Naruto acting happy before he had never seen Naruto trying so hard to act hyper and loud, which was quite disturbing. He had almost seemed like a different person; as a matter of fact if he had been less of a shinobi he would have thought he _was_ another person in a disguise. As it was the henge and similar techniques were no good against him, he was just too powerful a shinobi. Not to brag or anything, it was simply the truth. Thinking over the other more subtle things he had noticed he let out a deep sigh. Maybe he was just over thinking this. Yet as he got back to Hokage tower and then into his office he decided something, maybe it was time to get out his old crystal ball. After all it was never a bad idea to be cautious.

XXXXX

The next day Naruto set out into the forest with a particular training method it mind. In the previous time line he had been able to do it for long periods of time with ease, but he had yet to try it in this one. Picking out a likely looking spot, which consisted of an open space with a large tree in its center, Naruto got to work. Facing the tree Naruto pulled out a rough looking stone kunai which he had made a few days ago. Concentrating as hard as he could Naruto charged at the tree and attempted to run up it with his chakra, he didn't finish his first step before he fell flat on his back with a painful thump. Cursing he sat up, rubbing his bumped head.

'Dang, I was afraid this was going to be a problem. My mind knows how to do it but my body still has to learn,' he thought, feeling upset.

Still rubbing the back of his head Naruto stood up and walked away from the tree. When he was a certain distance away he turned and charged the tree again.

"Ouch," was the mildest word that rang through the woods that morning, and it was always preceded by a loud thump.

It was well past noon when a worn out Naruto leaned against the tree panting. Looking up at the shredded tree he smiled. He had made it to the top in less than one day. Since he already knew how to do it, it had been a simple matter of familiarizing his body with it. He tried to stand up but immediately plopped back down.

'Man, I really need to work on my chakra capacity,' he thought tiredly as he lay down on his back. 'It's too bad I can't use my kage bunshin training method, I could have been done in a few minutes.'

He lay there for a while as his chakra slowly replenished itself. The wind softly blew through the tree tops, making the sound of a rushing stream, and occasionally letting beams of sunlight land on Naruto's prone form. His breathing deepened and he dozed in and out of consciousness for a few minutes before shaking himself and propping himself up against a tree. Looking around the forest he let a lazy small smile grace his lips, feeling a rare sense of peace.

"Shikamaru," he heard a woman's voice yelling in the distance, immediately breaking the feeling "get your lazy butt back here right now."

A bush to the side of the clearing he was in rustled before a boy steeped out of it. He didn't seem to see Naruto and continued walking away from where the voice was coming from.

"Shikamaru," the voice yelled again, "come back"

Unbidden thoughts that he had tried to bury came to his mind, and he saw them just as clear as when they first happened.

**flashback**

The second day of the war was well under way. The exhausted leaf nins were falling quickly to the Army of Thunder's fresh wave of shinobi. Konoha was once again trying to regroup, but were finding the process slow and tiring. Most genin were now gone, along with half the chuunin and quite a few Jounin. Naruto often had to suppress his feelings, his thankfulness ever growing towards Ero-sennin for teaching him how to do so, at the thought of all his lost comrades.

He was with a group trying to get to a pre decided rendezvous point. Only one other member of the group was part of the rooky nine, and if it wasn't for him they wouldn't have gotten as far as they had. His quick thinking and amazing strategies had enabled them to overcome many foes.

Suddenly they found large group of enemies surrounding them, Naruto let out a curse. Only a little more and they would have made it. The group quickly surrounded Shikamaru as he crouched down in his thinking pose, confident that he would think of a way out of their predicament. The battle that followed was one of the most violent he had experienced yet. For each Konoha nin there was at least four Thunder nins. Shikamaru had yet to give them a plan, but they were confident in their genius, even as they began to fall. With a loud sigh Shikamaru stood up, and the group stood ready to listen to his plan.

"I'm almost out of chakra so do as exactly as I say, you will only have one chance to get this right," Shikamaru spoke wearily.

Naruto suddenly got a bad feeling but stood ready regardless. The remaining members of the group did likewise.

"I'll say it once again, do _exactly_ as I say," Shikamaru stated, "on the count of three you will make a break for the rendezvous point, don't worry about your opponents concentrate all your strength on running."

'Why am I getting this bad feeling?' Naruto thought nervously.

"one."

'What is it?'

"two," Shikamaru said dropping to one knee and making a rat seal.

Then it hit him, 'he's not including himself.'

"three!" Shikamaru shouted as tendrils of shadow spread out, grabbing all the enemy nin at once.

The group took off running as fast as they could. Only Naruto and Shikamaru remained.

"What are you doing Naruto?," Shikamaru asked, obviously put under a lot of strain from the jutsu.

"What the heck about you, Shikamaru? There's no way I'm leaving you," Naruto shouted.

"Listen, I'm almost out of strength, so shut up and listen okay," Shikamaru said taking a deep breath as tears began pouring down his face, "my whole life, Naruto, I've been nothing but a lazy ass punk. I always took everything for granted. After the mission to retrieve Sasuke I felt determined to work hard for maybe the first time in my life. It wasn't long before I went back to my old ways, I thought because I learned a few new moves that it was enough. After Asuma-sensei died I felt the old determination returning, but as soon as his killers were taken care of it was gone again. If I was stronger, no, if I had _made_ myself stronger I could have done so much more. I was told once that I had the potential to become hokage; I ignored that potential so I could be lazy. I could have done so much more Naruto, but I didn't and people have lost their lives during this war because of it, even my parents. Right now my chakra is almost gone, I could've had so much more, made so much more of a difference, but I don't, and I can't. I was too lazy to bother to building it up.

"Out of all the plans I came up with just now this was the best one Naruto, the way that most lives could be saved. Now run, and let me do this one thing. I never lived up to my potential and became strong enough to rival a kage so let me atone by dying a way a hokage would, for my friends and my village."

Naruto hesitated looking sadly at his friend.

"Go!" Shikamaru shouted desperately, the strain on his face growing more apparent.

Naruto ran with all his might, hating himself more with every step. He couldn't block out the cries of victory that came from behind him a moment later. Shikamaru was dead.

**flashback**

"Hey… hey are you ok?" a voice said as a hand shook his shoulder. Naruto looked up into the face of a young boy who had a spiky black ponytail. Shaking himself a little Naruto stood up.  
"Yeah, sorry I must have dozed off," Naruto said in a surprisingly calm voice.

The boy looked at the strange blond boys tear streaked face before shrugging. "whatever, I was just making sure you were okay, see ya."

"Hey, wait…," the boy paused, "thanks Shikamaru, for everything," Naruto said before turning and walking into the forest.

'Troublesome,' Shikamaru thought as he watched the boy disappear. 'How did he know my name? Why was he crying? What was he thanking me for?'

Thoughts of the strange encounter would plague the genius for some time.

XXXXX

Later that day Naruto found himself at his favorite ramen stand. Tipping his latest bowl back to drink the last of the broth, Naruto put the empty bowl on the counter and sighed contentedly. He couldn't believe there was a time when he had actually hated ramen. Since it was both a cheep and a filling meal he had started eating it daily when he was a small child. He had of course acquired a taste for it and now thoroughly enjoyed it. He sighed contentedly as he paid for his meal an exited the small stand. Ah, the foolishness of youth.

He started walking towards his apartment but stopped when he heard someone called his name.

"Naruto! Wait!" a young pink haired girl yelled as she broke through the crowd and raced towards him. He turned to meet her with a smile on his face.

"Sakura-Chan! How are you doing today," the blond yelled to her happily.

"Fine, whatcha up to," Sakura said as she finally reached him, a little winded from the run.

"Nothing much, I just got through eating and was going to head home, why?" he asked.

"I want you to meet my mom!" Sakura started excitedly, then stopped, seeing a guarded look enter Naruto's eyes.

"Er... well Sakura-chan, that might not be such a good idea," Naruto responded.

"Why?"

"Well, umm… you see…" fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, Naruto was spared coming up with an excuse as Sakura's mom had just broken through the crowd and was headed towards them.

"Mom, over here," Sakura shouted needlessly, waving her arms over her head.

As the woman approached Naruto he realized that he had never met the woman in the other timeline.

"Mom, this is Naruto-kun," Sakura said, Naruto almost missed the suffix, "and Naruto-kun this is my mom."

"Haruno-san, it's a pleasure to meet you," Naruto said nervously with a slight bow.

Without a word Sakuras mother grabbed her hand and walked away, her face red with anger. Naruto felt a wave or dread in him. That wasn't encouraging at all. A few moments later Sakura ran back through the crowd with tears running down her face.

"My mom said I can't see you any more," she said before giving him a quick hug, "I'm sorry, I don't know why."

"Sakura," an angry voice broke through the crowd.

"Bye," the sobbing girl said before running towards the voice.

"Bye," Naruto said sadly, even though he knew she wouldn't hear.

Sighing he made his way back to his apartment. As he locked the door and made his way to his bed where he sat down he thought, 'of course her parents wouldn't like me. Why else would Sakura have been so mean to me when we first met in the other timeline. Her parents passed down their hate for me to her, like many of the other parents.'

A few hours later, after plenty of time to calm down, Naruto was still sitting on the bed deep in thought. Should he try to be friends with her anyway or should he forget it until they were a team again? If he was friends with her anyway then her family would get mad at her, and he didn't want her to have a hard family life. But if he let it be until they were genin then she might be influenced by her family again and hate him. But then again if they didn't meet again until academy maybe he wouldn't be able to change her enough to affect the time line too much.

A sad smile spread across his face as he knew what he had to do. If he had to choose between his own happiness or Sakura's happiness then he would of course choose the latter. Not messing up the time line was just a perk.

Finally standing up from his bed he looked around, trying to think of something to do to occupy his thoughts, not noticing anything he decided to take a walk.

It was late afternoon and the sun would set in a few more hours. The path he chose to walk was the same that he had walked the day after he had come back. When he arrived at the spacious park he went to sit down on his bench but noticed someone was already there. When he saw who it was his blood ran cold. It took a minute to calm down but when he did he walked over and sat on the bench next to the boy. What he saw surprised him to no end, the boy was actually crying.

"You okay," Naruto asked hesitantly, trying to remind himself that this was a different person than the one he knew.

"Yeah, of course I am," the boy replied quickly wiping away his tears, "who are you?"

"Names Uzumaki Naruto, and you?" Naruto replied.

"Sasuke… Uchiha Sasuke," the boy replied, "why are you here."

"I'm was on a walk, how about you?" asked Naruto.

"I…I… I'm lost!" Sasuke said bursting into tears again.

"Well, I can help you find your way home, if ya want me to," Naruto replied with a smile, nope definitely not the person he knew.

"How do you know where I live?" the Uchiha asked confused.

"You said your name was Uchiha, right? Then you must live in the Uchiha compound, and that's kind of hard to miss." Naruto said, trying desperately to not laugh. 'man, who knew Sasuke was such a… well…, _kid,_ when he was a kid. I mean even when I knew him in the academy before the Uchiha massacre he was such a…'

"Ok then, help me find my way home," Sasuke said, cutting into Naruto's thoughts.

Chuckling Naruto hoped off the bench and motioned Sasuke to follow. The two boys walked in silence for a while, Naruto leading the way with Sasuke trailing close behind so he wouldn't get lost again.

"So how'd you end up getting lost anyway?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"hn," Sasuke replied turning his face slightly away.

'Darn that jerk's attitude,' Naruto thought to himself angrily, turning away from Sasuke with fire burning in his eyes. 'here I am trying to help him and…'

"How come your mom let you take a walk by your self?" Sasuke asked, his face still turned away.

"Don't have one, I live by myself." Naruto replied easily.

"Hey, what's that?" Sasuke asked a few moments later, breaking Naruto out of his musings.

Naruto looked towards where Sasuke was pointing and saw a group of kids standing in a circle around something. Curious, both boys walked forward to see what was happening.

"ha, ha," a boy shouted, "what you going to do now ghost girl?"

"yeah," a girl added intelligently, "stupid ghost girl."

A member of the group broke the circle and bent down, making a shoving motion. Naruto saw a flash of pink between the figures before the unfortunate person righted herself.

'That must be Sakura,' Naruto thought, his blue eyes turning dangerously cold. "Wait here Sasuke, I'll be right back."

Naruto walked up to the group and shoved his way through to the center.

"Hey, what you think you're doing," one of the boys in the group said.

Ignoring him Naruto walked to the girl in the center. Her hair was down covering her face, but he could still see the tears that were freely running down her face.

"Sakura-chan, are you ok?" he asked her brushing some of her hair back so he could see her face. Upon hearing the voice Sakura looked up and immediately jumped on Naruto, sobbing on his shoulder.

Naruto slowly stood up, holding Sakura to him tightly, a look of anger spread across his face.

"I suggest you kids go home," he said in an intimidating voice. The group took a step back.

"You want to fight punk," one of the braver boys said, his voice trembling slightly.

"We were just having some fun," a girl piped in, "don't be so mean."

Naruto looked at her with disgust, "Don't be so mean? Aren't you the one picking on Sakura-chan here, you nasty little brat."

The girl steeped back in shock.

Naruto turned and tried to leave but a boy blocked his path. "you're not going anywhere, stupid."

Without a word Naruto punched the kid in the face, knocking him out instantly, and kept walking. The rest of the kids in the group stood there for a second stunned before some of the boys charged forward and attempted to attack.

"Sakura you're going to have to wait here for a moment," Naruto said as he unwrapped the girls' arms from around him. Giving her a reassuring smile he turned and met the assault head on. A few must have been in the academy because they were using the academy's taijutsu. Naruto cursed his young untrained body as he narrowly dodged a fist. His eyes caught the movement just fine but his body was having a hard time keeping up. Sighing Naruto hoped that there weren't any shinobi around and dropped into his favorite taijutsu stance, which he had learned on his training trip with Jiraiya.

Dodging a fist Naruto crouched down and uppercuted the boy before dropping down again and sweeping the legs from beneath another. A foot caught him in the side before he could dodge so he rolled with it up to another boy whom he slammed in the stomach. Jumping back as fast as he could he rammed his elbow into the last boys chest.

Looking around Naruto saw that everyone in the group had either been knocked out or had run away. Wearily walking back to Sakura, who was staring at him with big eyes, he took her hand and led her back to Sasuke.

"Can we take Sakura home first Sasuke, she lives closer," Naruto panted between breaths, trying to ignore the pain in his side.

"Sure," Sasuke said, staring at Naruto with respect, "you're pretty good. What was your name again?"

"Naruto," Naruto said with a small smile.

"well… Naruto, maybe you could teach me some time? Unless you don't want to," Sasuke said, adding the last part rather quickly.

"Sure Sasuke, sounds good…" Naruto said before a voice cut him off.

"Sakura?" the voice said from in front of them. They looked up and Naruto's heart immediately sunk. It was Sakura's mom.

"Sakura! What did I tell you about that boy?" the elder Haruno asked as she reached the group.

"But mom…" Sakura began timidly but was cut off.

"No buts Sakura, I'm very disappointed with you. As for you, you little monster, if I see you near my daughter again you'll be sorry."

"now, hold on a minute miss," Sasuke began.

"What" Sakuras mom said, whirling on Sasuke. Upon seeing who it was she continued in a gentler voice, "what is it Uchiha-san."

"Naruto was helping you daughter just now." Sasuke said angrily.

"What," she said confusedly, "why would the little…"

"I wasn't finished," Sasuke continued with a touch of arrogance in his voice, "there was a group of kids picking on your daughter just now and he stood up for her. They were upset that he stepped in so a group of them attacked him. He was able to fight them all off but he got hurt trying. I just met the guy but I get the feeling he would fight to protect your daughter again if he had to, he really looked angry when he saw what was happening."

They all stared at Sasuke for a moment. The elder Haruno because she was letting the words sink in. Sakura because no one had cut her mom off before and lived. And Naruto because he swore that the Sasuke he knew had never spoken so many words at one time before and was amazed.

"Sakura is this true?" her mother asked finally. When Sakura nodded her mother hesitantly turned to Naruto. "I apologize." She said with great difficulty.

"hey, forget about it" Naruto said nervously as the Haruno motioned for her daughter to follow her. They began walking away but Sakura turned back and gave Naruto one last hug. "Bye, Naruto-kun," she said brightly before running after her mother, who had turned and was looking at him with a disconcerted expression.

"Bye, Sakura-chan," Naruto said loudly, before she turned a corner and was gone. "Thanks for sticking up for me Sasuke, I really appreciate it."

"hn," Sasuke responded, as if determined to make up for the amount of words he used earlier.

'darn you Sasuke,' Naruto exclaimed with flames burning behind his eyes.

"I can find my way from here Naruto, thanks for taking me this far," Sasuke said before walking off with a wave, leaving Naruto alone in the street.

"Well this has defiantly been an eventful day," Naruto said tiredly to himself before deciding to continue on his walk.

On the other side of town an old face smiled down into a crystal ball. Its owner leaned back in his chair, he would have to question the boy about certain things he had witnessed throughout the day but he was happy that Naruto was able to make another friend. Taking a deep puff from his pipe the old Hokage couldn't help wondering what tomorrow held.

XXXXX

End chap

XXXXX

And there's chap 3.

Just so it's clear this fic is a saku/naru.

So, what could I have done better? What did you like/dislike? What do you think this story needs? Questions/Comments? Please R and R!!! You people rock!!!


	4. Fighting dreamers

Updated- 8/8/07

First and foremost thanks to all the reviewers!!! Sniff, I love you all. Ummm…in a manly way of course.

Disclaimer: If I had a million dollars I'd be rich. If I owned Naruto I'd be richer. Poor, poor me.

Chap. 4 –Fighting Dreamers

"_Naruto…"_

_He was running through a dark tunnel, water soaked the ground. He knew he'd been here before but he couldn't quite place it._

"_Naruto…"_

_He ran faster, trying to escape the phantom voice that hunted him. The tunnel he was in grew darker and darker but at the same time a single door appeared far ahead, bathed in pure light._

"_Naruto… come."_

_The voice seemed to come from behind the door ahead, Naruto stopped running unsure of weather he should continue forward or run away._

"_Naruto… come, please."_

_Suddenly the voice didn't sound so ominous, rather it sounded comforting, and somehow familiar. He approached the door and reached his hand towards the handle, knowing that he would be happy with what he found on the other side even though he had no idea of what it could be. His fingers wrapped around the cool metal of the doorknob and he twisted. As he pulled the door open a white light enveloped him. And then…_

Naruto sat up with a start. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was.

'Well that was a weird dream,' he thought to himself, 'maybe eating expired ramen right before bed time wasn't such a good idea after all.'

He looked at the clock on his nightstand; the glowing red numbers showed it was 6:30 in the morning, half an hour before he was expecting to wake up.

'Might as well get up now,' he thought somewhat grumpily, as he reached over to flip the switch on his alarm clock to the off position.

The sun had already risen so Naruto had plenty of light to work by as he began his morning routine, forgoing the trip to Kyuubi's cell. He had promised Sasuke that he would teach him something today and was meeting him in the forest in a little while. Sitting down on his bed he waited for the time to pass, wishing he had his old TV…which he wouldn't get for another year…

'Man, sometimes thinking about it is just plain confusing,' he thought as he scratched the back of his head. He winced as his fingers brushed against a bruise he had gotten during the tree walking training. Normally it would have healed the first day but it seemed Kyuubi's healing power was missing as much as Kyuubi himself. Since he was used to sleeping on his back the last two nights had been very uncomfortable.

After sitting there for a few minuets with nothing to do he decided that it wouldn't hurt to be early and set out to the predetermined meeting spot. A few moments later he was approaching the park and was surprised to see that Sasuke was already there, his little arms wrapped tightly around himself to block the morning chill. He was glad that he had run into his little friend the day before and was able to get him to start training with him.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted to get the boys attention.

Upon hearing his name Sasuke looked up and his face broke into an excited grin.

"Hey Naruto."

"How long you been here man," Naruto asked stopping a few feet away from the young Uchiha.

"Just a little while."

"Good. So, you ready for today? Like I said before, it's going to be tough," Naruto said.

"I'm ready," Sasuke replied, obviously determined.

"Good," Naruto said. His eyes turned to the empty park and he grinned as he had an epiphany. "But first let's play a little."

Sasuke stood surprised for a moment as Naruto took off without waiting for a reply. He felt a little disappointed that they weren't going to start right away, but that was quickly forgotten as he ran forward to join his new friend.

XXXXX

Deep in a forest training ground, an hour or so later, the two boys stood facing each other. One spoke, breaking the peaceful silence of the forest.

"So, you ready?"

"Hn"

"Sasuke… do you really have to do… never mind. Well, first things first. What have you been taught about chakra so far," the blond boy asked.

"Just that all living things have it, whether it's a small amount or a big one," the raven haired Uchiha replied.

"Really? Dang, this will take a moment then. I won't go into detail because you'll learn in the academy and they can teach you better than me, but I'll go over the basics with you," the blond replied in a resigned voice.

"Hey, Naruto? Before we continue can I ask you something" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

"Sure, what's up?" Naruto said. A smirk tried to force its way onto his face as he thought about how different this Sasuke was from the one he had got to know in the other timeline. Of course he had never known him when he was this young.

"How do you know so much about chakra?"

"Err…" Naruto began as he tried to think up a good excuse, "Well, I read it in a scroll once."

Which technically wasn't a lie. He _had_ read about chakra once, or tried to, during a class assignment in his first year at the academy.

"Oh, ok," responded the young Uchiha, accepting the answer without question.

"Well anyway, back on track. Chakra is the combination of two different energy's: physical and spiritual. Physical is just how it sounds- the energy you gain from your physical body, but spiritual energy is really more of a mental energy. You'll learn the finer stuff of that in the academy, for now all you need to know is that you will need to train both your mind and your body in order to become any good at using chakra and building your reserves..." Naruto paused as he realized Sasuke had a question, "Yes?"

"How do you train your mind?" Sasuke asked, a confused look on his face.

"Well, the main thing you do is meditation," Naruto responded, "after you get that down you start doing things to make it harder and harder, like for example balancing a book on your head while meditating. Do you know how to meditate?"

"Yes, father has me do it every morning; I didn't know it actually had a use though."

"So he's already teaching you huh. I figured as much. Knowing…your family you should already have the capability to unlock your chakra, you just need to be shown how," Naruto said with a satisfied smile.

Several hours had passed when Sasuke leaned back against a tree in frustration; the tree offering much needed support to is tired body.

"Don't take it too hard Sasuke," Naruto said understandingly, "I hardly expected you to get it on the first day. You did good though. Why don't I treat you to some ramen, eh?"

"Hn," Sasuke said with a disgruntled look on his face.

"Where did you learn that any way?" Naruto asked exasperatedly as he helped the exhausted Uchiha to his feet. "And what's it supposed to mean anyway? Hn can be taken as easily for yes as it can for no, or a number of other things for that matter."

"Hn," Sasuke said as he started walking towards the village.

'_Grrr…ungrateful rotten little-_'

"You coming or what," Sasuke called, interrupting Naruto's thoughts.

'_Sigh, the more things change the more they stay the same I suppose._'

The two boys slowly made their way into town, both enjoying the silence of the forest, however once they were in the more populated section of the village Sasuke started getting a strange feeling. There was a prickling feeling on his back like someone was staring at him, and not with what he'd call good intent. He kept seeing people glare at him out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look all he saw was the smiling faces of the villagers. This went on for several minuets before he realized that they weren't looking at him but the seemingly carefree blond beside him. At first he was so relieved that it wasn't him they were looking at all scarily that it didn't fully sink in. They were looking at _Naruto_ like that. All of them were glaring at him, like he had done something bad to all of them. He looked over at Naruto to see if he had noticed at all.

Upon seeing Sasuke look at him Naruto turned his head and gave him a reassuring smile. This seemed to pacify the young Uchiha somewhat because he continued on without saying anything. Naruto felt stupid for not thinking that Sasuke might notice the glares. He may be a little kid but he was still a smart little kid. Ah well, if he was lucky Sasuke wouldn't bring it up for some time yet.  
All thoughts were forcefully knocked out of his head as two of Naruto's favorite smells reached his nose: one being the scent of fresh piping hot ramen and the other the sweet herbal scent of cherry blossom shampoo.

"Naruto-kun," Sakura's little voice called out happily from just beyond the ramen shop.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto responded with a smile as the young girl ran up. He quickly scanned the crowd for her mom and was relieved to see she wasn't around. "And of course you remember Sasuke from the other day."

"Yeah," Sakura answered with a polite nod before turning back to Naruto, a shy little blush spread across her face as she remembered how Naruto had saved her from the bullies.

"We were about to get some ramen, you want to join us? It would be my treat." Naruto said, completely missing the blush.

"Sure, thanks," she said happily.

She trio seated themselves and placed their orders. As they waited for their food to arrive Sasuke broke the silence.

"What was I doing wrong? You said I should be able to do it but I wasn't able to get anywhere with it."

Naruto considered his answer for a moment before answering, "I'm afraid I can't tell you, Sasuke. It's something you have to figure out on your own. If I did tell you then you would never have the level of understanding you could get by doing it yourself. Besides, while learning to rely on others is pretty important, it's also important to work things out for yourself."

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura asked feeling a little left out.

"Ah, I started teaching Sasuke how to unleash his chakra today. Of course it's not very common to be able to get it on your first try. He's still a little frustrated about the fact." Naruto answered.

"Oh, ok," Sakura said, staring at the steaming bowl that was put in front of her. Naruto noticed a small frown appear on her face.

"Err… did you want to try it too?" Naruto asked, hoping to pacify her. He didn't think she would be interested, after all she hadn't started taking her training seriously until after Sasuke left for the sound.

"Sure…unless you don't want me to," she replied hesitantly, letting her bangs hide her eyes.

'Note to self,' Naruto thought wryly but with some surprise at her answer, 'work on Sakura's self confidence.'

"Great," he said out loud, "we're going to have to figure out how to get your mom to let you though."

Sakura's brightened face instantly fell, "Oh yeah. She still doesn't want me to play with you, even if she doesn't say it quite as angrily as she used to."

"What? Even after he helped you against those bullies," Sasuke said in disbelief, his chop sticks half way to his mouth.

"Yeah," Sakura replied softly, looking down.

"Hey now, it's not like its Sakura's fault Sasuke," Naruto said in a reprimanding tone. "I didn't expect her mom to change just like that, anyway. We'll just have to find a way around it."

"Well, Sasuke's mom lets him train with you right? Maybe she can talk to mine about it," Sakura said after a moment of thinking.

"Actually my parents don't know," said Sasuke in an embarrassed tone, "They think I go out to train on my own."

Naruto looked at him and grinned thinking of the presence he had felt shadowing them all day, "I'm sure they know more than you think Sasuke."

Sasuke shrugged and went back to his meal.

"I don't think that it would work anyway," Naruto said after finishing his second bowel. "Your mom might respect the Uchiha, but she _is_ doing what she thinks is best for you when she tells you to stay away from me."

"I don't understand why she doesn't like you so much. Why isn't any of the adults nice to you?" Sakura asked.

"Its why _aren't_ any," Naruto said, trying to change the subject. He noticed Sasuke shift next to him, clearly curious as well. "And some adults are nice to me."

Naruto continued eating his ramen, hoping that they wouldn't try to question him farther. His luck didn't hold out however.

"Why are _some_ adults not nice to you, then," Sasuke asked, not at all deterred.

Sighing Naruto sat up from slouching over his bowel, "it's not something I can tell you right now, maybe when you're older."

Both looked dissatisfied at this but strangely they accepted it, somehow sensing they wouldn't get any more out of him. Sighing again, this time in relief, Naruto pulled out his wallet and paid for everyone's meal.

As the trio walked out of the ramen stand Naruto had an idea. "Hey Sakura, how about you tell your mom that you would be training with Sasuke. That way you would have an excuse to be out and you technically wouldn't be lying. Judging by how she acted before she probably wouldn't have a problem with that."

After thinking about it for a moment Sakura's face brightened considerably and she agreed to try it. Afterwards the three made plans to meet at the park the next morning before they split up and heading in their own directions. Sasuke and Sakura heading to their houses, Sakura's being just across and a little down the street from the stand, and Naruto to train.

XXXXX

That night after Naruto got ready for bed he walked over to his calendar to double check how many days were left until academy started. It was less than 3 weeks away. That's when everything would finally start for real. He wondered how much his presence had changed things so far, and how different things would be in the end.

Like he previously had, Naruto felt both a great sense of joy and annoyance at the thought of going through the academy again wash over him. Iruka-sensei wasn't the first teacher he had had, but he would be transferred into his class after his first teacher tried to kick him out of the school completely. Admittedly Iruka-sensei hadn't been much better at first, but eventually he softened up. Eventually.

As he lay on his bed, covers pulled snugly around him, his thoughts drifted to his sensei once again. He had become like a father to him, Naruto had spent the first truly happy times of his life with Iruka.

He yawned and began to fade into sleep.

…with Iruka

…Iruka

XXXXX

"…_with Iruka."_

"_What?" Naruto asked putting his ear closer to his dieing friend's lips._

"_The rest are with Iruka, they were heading towards the academy," the prone form broke into a fit of coughing, each cough draining more of what little life remained in his body. There was a look of intense sorrow in his eyes. "I'm sorry Naruto, I did everything I could. It just wasn't enough."_

"_No, you did good Lee. I don't know if I could have defeated those two in a two on one fight. You have proven yourself a truly great shinobi." The light in lee's eyes was almost gone. "It was an honor to know you, my friend."_

"_Yosh, time for the next great challenge. Tell everyone I said goodbye."_

_The last bit of life faded and Naruto reached over and closed his friend's eyes. Slowly standing up he let a single tear fall before reining in his emotions, now wasn't the time. As he wiped the moisture off his face he looked at his surroundings one last time before heading towards the academy. It was almost frightening how much raw power must have been unleashed in that area. The ground had been littered with enormous craters. It was like the area had been hit by an intense meteor shower. _

_Naruto quickly passed the corps of an Akatsuki, recognizable only by the tattered bits of red and black cloth surrounding it. Lee had done a thorough job indeed. He had fought a fight worthy of legends. He had lost his life in the end, but he had bought time for Iruka and the remaining genin to run. _

_An explosion sounded ahead and Naruto quickened his pace. It had come far to close to the academy. _

_He ran as fast as he could but he couldn't run fast enough. There were corpses littering the ground. Some were genin, some were Thunder shinobi._

_Must have been an ambush. He continued on._

_The buildings around him blurred as he forced himself to move faster than he ever had._

_It still wasn't fast enough._

_He quickly rounded the last corner, noticing more body's covered the ground, and looked ahead. The academy was on fire. Genin along with a few chuunin and thunder nins were fighting fiercely against each other. Konohamaru and Moegi were fighting the obvious leader of the enemy nins. Moegi fell mere moments after he first spotted her, her body becoming perfectly still. _

_Naruo pushed himself to go faster as the two battling nin continued their fight. He was _there_ but it was already over. Konohamaru fell to his knees coughing up blood, his opponent was dead. _

_Konohamaru coughed up more blood and spoke in a gurgling voice, never noticing Naruto a few feet away, "you are avenged Iruka-sensei." And then he slumped forward and was still._

_Naruto held his breath, and then slowly expelled it. He saw Udon's prone form by the burning academy. _

_Pain._

_Iruka was dead as well, his body beside a smoldering crater. _

_Anger._

_Rage. _

_An unknown amount of time passed when he felt a sharp pain on his face. _

_A punch from his own shadow clone? When had he made a shadow clone? He looked down, he was covered in blood that was not his own. He looked around, the remaining shinobi, all from Konoha, look at him in awe and fear._

_Duty. He had to keep moving. _

_He made a vow that he wouldn't let his emotions slip again. He led the remaining genin to the relative safety of the central command tent. _

_An older nin, perhaps one of the fallen genin's parents, stepped forward. _

"S_urly this cant be all of them, where are all the rest of the genin?"_

"_Wi__th Iruka-sensei"_

"_Iruka-sensei…"_

XXXXX

Naruto sat up in bed, shivering uncontrollably. His sheets were soaked with sweat, but he didn't notice. Placing hands on either side of his head and squeezing his eyes shut he forces his emotions back, managing just barely.

Panting heavily he untangled his legs from his sheets and stood up. The emotions were being suppressed but they constantly beat on his conscience, trying to break free.

He had to do something to take his mind off of things, but looking around his meager apartment he couldn't see anything to do. He looked outside and saw that it was still an hour or so until dawn. Pacing back and forth in his room he tried to think of what he could do, but as time wore on the hammering in his head seemed to grow stronger.

Making up his mind Naruto grabbed his jacket and walked to his window. Thrusting it open he placed his foot on the windowsill and jumped, landing easily on the house across from him. The early morning air was frigid yet he couldn't feel it, instead all his concentration was put into running.

XXXXX

From the Hokage tower Sarutobi looked out over his village. The full moon cast a bright light, making it easy for the old man to see his village. The jounin exams were finally coming to a close and he had stayed up all night trying to finish all the blasted paper work. He still had a little to go, but he had decided to take a break and give his tired eyes a rest. He pondered over this year's Jounin finalists and how they would likely do in this year's final exam. One leaf nin had stood out among the rest, a young kunoichi by the name of Yuuhi Kurenai who had showed exceptional skill in genjutsu techniques.

As Sarutobi continued his musings he caught a flash of orange in the corner of his eye. Looking towards the origin of the color he saw a streak of orange in the distance. Only one person he knew ever wore that color, but how was he moving at that speed? How could some one that wasn't even a genin, heck who hadn't even started academy yet, possibly move at such speed?

The old Hokage stepped away from the window, troubling thoughts coursing through his mind.

XXXXX

Naruto stumbled to a stop, panting heavily. Peeling off his jacket he let the cold morning air surround his body. Slumping to the ground for a moment he groaned as the burning pain in his legs forced his emotions back. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea in the world to push himself so hard for so long. He looked up, wondering where his legs had taken him, and found himself in the clearing where he had been caught crying by Sakura.

After a moment the throbbing in his legs was overpowered by the struggle in his head. Quickly forcing himself to stand up he felt a sharp pain in his legs and decided to focus the harsh training he would put himself through on his upper body.

More than an hour had past when he slumped to the ground again, his arms hanging limply at his side. Slowly and with much wobbling he lifted his arms to look at his knuckles in the soft morning light before letting them drop again. not good. The pain he felt through his body was intense, but he could hide it from others without much problem. His knuckles were going to be another story.

'Why am I so stupid?! I should have known better... I'm so useless. I can't do anything right… Arghhh! Why am I even here! Can I even make a difference?' Sliding back Naruto propped himself against a tree, grimacing at his sore muscles.

'Why couldn't I have died too?' a steady flow of tears forced its way through his tightly clenched eyes. The struggle in his head stopped as his memories flooded his mind with a vengeance, 'it was over, Akatsuki was gone, along with almost all of the Army of Thunder, and even Orochimaru, so why? Even that scumbag got to die, so why not me? Why?'

"Why!!!" Naruto leaped up shouting. He turned to the tree he was leaning against and started punching and kicking with all his might, heedless of the pain. Standing back he crossed his fingers for his shadow clone technique and two Naruto clones popped into existence, all he could currently manage. A wave of dizziness hit Naruto but he shook it off.

"Attack me," he shouted, forcing himself to ignore his body's protests.

The clones moved in as one, each using a different fighting style. He punched at the one on the left but it dodged. The one on the right scored a glancing blow on his stomach as he jumped to the side. He ducked under a kick from the first.

Naruto lost himself in the fight as he dodged, punched, and kicked. A fist coming at his face was dodged by a back flip while he kicked out his feet causing the clone to dodge as well. The other clone was waiting for him when he landed, landing a solid blow in the middle of his back. Rolling forward with the punch Naruto meet the foot of the first clone, causing him to fly back and crash hard into a tree. Black spots filled his vision and he barely dodged the second's uppercut before he shoved his fist into its stomach causing it to poof away. The first hadn't been idle while this happened and was on top of Naruto before he realized it, scoring a vicious punch into his stomach. Naruto sagged forward, spit and blood sprayed from his mouth and he collapsed to the ground. Seeing this the clone stepped back, waiting further orders. When none came it too dispersed.

Rolling onto his back Naruto let a small bitter chuckle escape his lips. 'What the heck am I doing? I'm acting so stupid. I'm such a freakn' drama king.'

Naruto tried to sit up but found he couldn't move.

Slowly he began to laugh. He opened his mouth to call for help but all that came out was a gurgling croak. Upon realizing that he was too weak to even talk, let alone yell, he tried to laugh even harder, but his body wouldn't allow it. He was truly and utterly spent.

His last thought before slipping into blissfully empty unconsciousness was, 'too bad Sakura-chan wasn't here this time.' And darkness took him.

XXXXX

Sarutobi placed a round object into is desk drawer and sighed. Raising his right hand he signaled one of his elite anbu guards to appear before him.

"You will find a young man in a clearing near the wall a mile east of the main gaits. Take him to the hospital and keep him under guard. Make sure he receives good medical attention."

"Hai, hokage-sama," the anbu said before puffing away.

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair; deep worry lined his face as he thought of what he had witnessed. Yes, this was troubling, very troubling indeed.

XXXXX

End chap

XXXXX

Well there ya are cowpokes! Hope ya had a rooten tooten good time. Yehaw. (said very enthusiastically, more or less)

Questions? Comments? Ask the all knowing, or not so all knowing, author!

R and R.

Clarification corner!

-This _IS _a Sakura Naruto fic.

-You people who said so are right, Sakuras mom shouldn't accept him so fast. Thanks for the tip **Hiroyuki11**. Sakura's mom being a working lady who has almost no time for Sakura is also a good idea, thanks.

-Naruto will not be going on a training trip, at least not any time soon.

-I do in fact use spell check, the problem is I have been trusting it too much.

-I do appreciate getting ideas for my story but there _is _such a thing as too much of a good thing. (pointedly not looking at a certain reviewer)

-Sakura Naruto romance wont really happen till there older physically, and Sakura mentally.

-There will never be any perverted stuff in my fics: no lemons, limes, or any other fruitiness. (Ero-sennin is a person not a stuff ;-)

Thank you all.


	5. the end of the dream

Re-write posted 8/20/07

Here's chapter five, I hope you like it. Thanks again and again to the reviewers. The story has 135 reviews!!! I'm pretty happy about it.

Disclaimer: "Hello! My name is Dono the Mage. I don't own Naruto. Prepare to die."

Chapter 5- The end of the dream

Running trough the dark tunnel with an outstretched arm he grabbed for the light illuminated door, but the dream ended and consciousness slowly returned. It was pretty much the same dream he had had the morning before, which he found odd, even if he was grateful for being spared from his nightmares. He couldn't remember having such similar dreams two nights in a row before. With a mental shrug and a near audible sigh, which was muted by his pillow, he tried to fall back asleep in an attempt see what would happen next. Unfortunately his feeling of wakefulness only got stronger. Sighing again, something he found himself doing often lately, he put his arms underneath his chest and lifted himself up. Or tried to. His arms, not being able to support his weight, gave way after a second. Cursing he tried to turn over on his back. Every muscle he moved caused him pain. After finally managing to roll onto his back he opened his eyes for the first time since he woke up.

He figured out pretty fast that he wasn't in his apartment, that explained why he'd been so comfortable, yet it took a moment longer to realize that he was in a hospital room. He sat there confused for a few moments before he remembered what had happened the day before. Cursing at himself for his stupidity he slowly sat up in his bed to think.

How had he gotten here? A civilian wouldn't have traveled that far in to the forest and the number of shinobi that would have stopped to help him were extremely limited.

Thinking about it for a few moments he decided that he would just wait and see if he could hear about it later. All he could possibly do now was speculate.

Realizing the urgent need to relieve himself, Naruto painfully got up from the bed and slowly hobbled his way to the restroom. When he was finished he crept over to the door and peeked out.

The hall seemed quiet, only a faint buzz of people talking in the distance could be heard. If he hadn't regained some of his trained senses the hall out side his hospital room would have seemed empty, but he could feel it. The aura of a person was close by.

Keeping his face neutral he casually drew his head back into his room and shut the door. It had to be an anbu. No one else would be hiding near his room with such a powerful yet indifferent feeling aura. The question was _why_ an anbu would be stationed by his room. There hadn't been anyone around to see anything when he was 'training' that morning so…

'Wait, what if…crap,' a thought suddenly struck Naruto, 'it couldn't have been…but it makes sense. But he shouldn't have been at the hokage tower at that time of night. Ugh, that stupid crystal ball! It _must_ be that... Which means he saw everything!'

Naruto paced his room deep in thought. He would need to come up with some sort of explanation.

What should he tell the Hokage? What could he? The truth? Maybe. Taking a deep and calming breath he crawled up onto his bed and assumed the lotus position. He took a deep breath from his nose and expelled it slowly through his mouth, doing his best to ignore his aching body. He would have to think long and hard on this.

XXXXX

Looking out the window from his bed Naruto saw that it was approaching midday. A nurse had just left the room after giving him a check up and re-bandaging his knuckles. She had been very surprised when she learned that she had apparently been the only one to come in all day, though she had made an effort to hide it.

He had expected the Hokage to have shown up by then and was getting really impatient when something occurred to him.

'Oh crap, I forgot about Sasuke and Sakura!' he realized, eyes going wide.

Getting up from his bed he hobbled his way back over to the door and poked his head out again. The hall way appeared busier than it had before it was still fairly quiet. He could still sense a presence but this one was hidden far better, the first anbu's replacement no doubt.

"Hey, anbu-san," he shouted out with out thinking, "do you know how long until the Hokage plans on coming?"

After a moments pause a figure wearing a dark cloak and a mask with some sort of animal face on it faded into view, obviously coming out from behind a genjutsu.

"No I do not, Uzumaki-san. The Hokage is a busy man and has many important things to do. It may be quiet a while yet." The anbu replied in an even voice, seemingly unperturbed that the untrained six year old boy was able to sense him. Again. Even though he'd suppressed is chakra and used a genjutsu this time. Of course mentally he was freaking out and planed to tell the Hokage everything as soon as he arrived.

"Oh, thanks anyway." Naruto replied before shutting his door again. He realized afterwards that he probably should have been more discreet.

'Oh well.'

Naruto paced the room a few more times before getting back on his bed. His whole body gave off a dull throbbing from using his sore muscles, but he felt better for having used them a little. He let his muscles relax and after a while the throbbing disappeared, if he moved them in the slightest, however, he was quickly reminded of them.

He lay there for what seemed like hours. Thoughts about what he should tell the Hokage and a feeling of guilt every time he pictured Sasuke and Sakura waiting for him made time appear to move slower than it actually was. He heard a knock at the door and quickly glancing at the clock, noticing that in reality less than an hour had passed since his talk with the anbu.

"Come in," Naruto spoke loudly.

Sarutobi stepped through the door, the smile on his face not as big as it usually was, the anbu guard tried to follow him in but Sarutobi waved him away closing the door behind himself.

At that display of trust, however small, Naruto made up his mind about what to tell the old Hokage.

"Earlier this morning I was finishing up some work in my office when I noticed an orange streak in the distance," the Hokage began without preamble, "It was moving at a speed only an experienced ninja should be able to reach. Of course this peaked my interest and so I decided to investigate further, and was I ever surprised at what I saw. How could a young boy, who has never even been to the academy, be able to perform such feats? One in particular that many experienced shinobi can not? I hope you have a good answer for me Naruto, as this is a very serious matter."

Naruto answered quickly, "I have answers for you old man. But, I will ask you to seal the room, what I have to say is for your ears alone. If you insist on having another person in the room for security reasons I would allow either Kakashi or Jiraiya, if he's in the village."

If Sarutobi was surprised by the young blonds answer he didn't show it. Immediately standing up and taking four peculiar kunai out of his robe he said, "I think I should be more than enough, though I find it rather strange that you would request those particular shinobi, and in such a familiar way, I have never heard about you meeting either of them."

The old Hokage threw a kunai to each corner of the room and did a few quick seals, creating a barrier around the room.

"That should block any sound from escaping. Now talk Naruto. I truly hope it's one heck a good story."

Heartened by the level of the old Hokage's trust he began, "I ask that you don't interrupt until the end, after I finish I will answer any questions you might have."

"If it's something I find too important to wait for, I'm afraid I must, but I agree to keep the bulk of my questions until the end."

"Ok," Naruto agreed, making himself comfortable on his bed, "this story actually starts in the future…"

Time passed and the story unfolded. Tears were often in his eyes, and he had to stop his story repeatedly, but he somehow managed to continue on. He glanced at Sarutobi's face every once and a while, trying to catch some sort of hint that he believed his story. The old Hokage's face was blank through the whole thing however.

He started his story with the day he graduated from the academy, wove around sasuke's betrayal and his two year training mission, and ended with the war against the army of thunder and Akatsuki.

"…so I sank into my mind and not able to find any other option, prepared to end my own life and release the Kyuubi who was then going to finish off what was left of the Army of Thunder. The Kyuubi showed me the seal sequence and I quickly copied it but as I finished up, instead of dieing and releasing the Kyuubi, I was surrounded by complete whiteness and I ended up here in the past. And that's pretty much it. I have tried not to change things too much, yet already things have begun to change from how I knew them. For better or for worse." Naruto concluded his tale and looked at the Hokage.

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and took another deep drag from his pipe, which he had produced not long after Naruto begun telling his story. Minutes passed in silence and Naruto began to grow uneasy. Finally the Hokage sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

"That is indeed an incredible tale, Naruto. However, before I decide what to believe I will ask you my questions and need to be given some time to think on it. This isn't something I could just accept without confirming it somehow, even if this was something that only affected me personally instead of the whole village. Do you under stand?"

Naruto nodded in acknowledgment. It hurt a little that his grandfather figure didn't believe him right off the bat but he more than understood.

"Good. First, by what you told me, you were placed in a genin team with your classes 'rooky of the year' and middle student, which means that you were the 'dead last' in said class. Even considering that you were about seventeen when you traveled back you still have shown, and spoken of, a knowledge of things that someone of your class rank shouldn't have been able to learn in the time given you."

"Well, that's easy enough to answer," Naruto replied with relief. He thought that the question were going to be harder. "Basically, while in the academy I wasn't given a chance to learn."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the teachers that I had prior to my last year completely ignored me. No, it was worse than that. They actually punished me for asking questions. I pretty much had to teach myself how to read, and then I had to steal a text book because they wouldn't give me one. While the other kids got help I was pushed to the side, even literally sometimes. I had to figure everything out on my own. It wasn't until a couple months into my last year that Iruka warmed up to me and made an attempt to help me catch up. Even then he had a whole class to worry about so I still wasn't able to catch up all the way before graduation. Plus, as you should know, I grew up by myself, so I didn't really get the learning experience most people get growing up"

"I see." The Hokage said with a frown. 'Unfortunately,' the old Hokage thought to himself, 'that's totally believable.' He continued out loud, "Second, you say that Sasuke betrayed the village and left to join Sound in order to become strong enough to kill his brother. I have met young Sasuke and he seems like a good kid, he also has a hero worship of his older brother. What could have changed him so much that he would even think of doing such a thing?"

"Well, it started with a… event that happened when we both were in the academy and was made worse on two separate occasions. The first being when we met Orochimaru in the forest of death, the second being when he met his brother not long after that. They both used strange jutsus to mess with his head."

"I'm afraid I still don't understand."

"Well, I was getting to that." Naruto said taking a deep breath. "The event that I mentioned earlier came to be known as the Uchiha Massacre. From what I was able to peace together apparently Itachi killed his best friend in order to gain a higher level of sharingan. Once he obtained it, he decided to test his "capacity" and killed everyone in his clan, excluding Sasuke for some reason."

"…I see." It was farfetched but not totally unbelievable. 'With power comes corruption' as the saying goes.

"That is one of the main reasons I decided to tell you the truth about myself, the Uchiha Massacre must be prevented somehow."

Sarutobi sighed and appeared deep in thought. "I will have to ponder on this a while. All this is rather hard to believe after all."

Naruto couldn't help but feel a little down at this. He hadn't really expected the old Hokage to trust him automatically, but he'd still hoped.

"But then again," the kind old man continued after seeing Naruto's look, "that is one of the reasons that I feel inclined to believe you. If you were lying you would have come up with a much more believable story. Also your story _would_ offer an explanation to your recent and rather radical change in behavior.

"One more question before I must go. How have you interacted with the Kyuubi since your apparent journey to the past?"

At this the blond looked slightly agitated. "I haven't," he said, "I have tried to contact him several times, but he seems beyond reach for some reason at the moment. His healing chakra seems to finally be coming back a little, but it's not nearly as strong as it should be."

"Very well, I will ponder on everything you have told me," the Hokage said heading towards the door. "Also I will let the hospital know that they may release you when they feel you are ready. Be prepared to answer more questions the next time we meet. Good day, Naruto."

After Sarutobi was gone Naruto sat thinking about how everything had gone during their discussion.

XXXXX

Naruto, unsurprisingly, was released from the hospital not to long after his meeting with Sarutobi. Feeling restless and not being able to think of anything to do he eventually made his way to the training grounds. Though he felt himself slowly healing he decided to take it easy for the day and keep it to stretching and basic katas, he didn't want to wake up in the hospital again after all.

As he practiced his forms his thoughts slowly drifted.

He was disappointed with not running into Sasuke or Sakura as he'd walked around the village before he decided to train. He hoped they would forgive him for not showing up that morning.

He thought of his talk with the Hokage. He felt that every thing had gone fairly well. Not to mention that he now potentially had a powerful ally to assist him in doing what needed to be done. Of course the inverse was true as well...

His thoughts drifted to how he was feeling. He'd noticed that when he was telling Sarutobi his tale he felt like someone was sucking poison out of his veins. Ever since he had finished he'd felt a lot better that he had in a long time, and a knot which had steadily been growing in his stomach had already begun to fade.

All in all he felt pretty good, despite his still healing body. With that thought he decided to step his exercises up a notch.

He created a clone and beckoned it towards him. The clone rushed forward and jabbed at him. He quickly twisted to the side and grabbed its arm. Cocking his fist back he punched hard towards the clones face, but at the last moment it flipped backwards dodging the punch as well as breaking free of Naruto's grip.

"What ever happened to light sparing?" the clone asked with a smirk as it landed a few feet away.

Not bothering to give himself an answer Naruto rushed forward with a round house kick aimed at the clones head. Before he could complete the maneuver he felt a twinge of pain that caused him to flinch, allowing the clone to escape.

"See," the clone said in a cocky voice, "you should take it easy or you're going to get hurt."

Realizing that he would have to keep his movements to a minimum for the time being he charged in again, this time with more caution, looking forward to the poof that would signal the annoying clones defeat.

XXXXX

Hidden in some trees on the other side of a clearing were two young children. Said children had been waiting at a previously designated place that morning for their friend to show up so they could all train together. After waiting for a few hours an anbu, as Sasuke had explained to Sakura they were called, had shown up and explained that said blond would be unable to come as he was currently in the hospital. After the poor kids had traveled out of the forest and three whole blocks to the hospital they were informed, with an odd stare, that Naruto had already left. After wandering around for a while they found out that neither of them knew where he lived. Eventually Sakura had remembered the clearing where she had first met Naruto.

"For someone who was sick enough to be in the hospital this morning he sure looks healthy enough," Sakura said in a slightly upset whisper, after she had gotten over the shock of there being two Naruto's, of course.

Sasuke tore his eyes from the spar Naruto was having and shot her a sideways glance before pressing his finger to his lips and then pointed back towards Naruto. He was trying to hide just like his brother had taught him to, but he was sure that Naruto would be able to find them if they weren't quiet. He was surprised that Naruto hadn't heard him earlier as he'd explained what little he knew about shadow clones to Sakura.

The young Uchiha stood there watching Naruto with awe. He could tell that Naruto was indeed injured by his sometimes awkward movements, but the way he moved most of the time was still so awesome! Would he teach him how to do that as well? With a smile he knew he probably would if he asked, unlike a certain mean older brother who said he was to busy to teach him anything most of the time.

Sakura slowly began to recognize Naruto's odd movements as flinching when he moved too much. She felt a sense of awe grow in her as she watched him pushing threw his pain and continue his training. She wondered if she would ever be that strong.

Filled with newfound respect for Naruto, even though they were still upset with him, the two future shinobi continued to watch their friend in silence.

XXXXX

Naruto held up a hand and caught his shadow clones punch. As the clone tried to pull away he punched towards its face causing it to flinch. After not feeling anything after a few seconds the clone opened its eyes to see Naruto's fist a mere inch from its face.

"Go practice chakra control until you disperse or I call you." Naruto said with a smirk to match the clone's previous one.

Quickly nodding in consent the clone walked a short distance away and began to run up and down a tree. Naruto walked to a tree as well, sitting down instead of copying the clone. At one point he thought he heard a small gasp at the other side of the clearing, but brushed it off as being his imagination. He took a moment to catch his slightly winded breath and to relax his throbbing mussels before sinking into his mind.

Standing in what appeared to be a sewer of some sort Naruto began the familiar trek to Kyuubi's cell. It had been a while since he had tried to visit the demon after all. Suddenly having a strange feeling come over him he stopped and looked around. It was strange, almost like dejavu. He had been in these tunnels before.

Smacking himself on the head he thought to himself exasperatedly, 'well of course I've been in these tunnels before. I have to go through here almost every time I go to see the Kyuubi.'

Continuing on his way Naruto tried to quell the ever growing sense of uneaseness. As he approached the door leading to Kyuubi's cell he heard a faint sound. He jumped slightly in surprise and quickly span around, glancing back and forth. The only sounds he had ever heard in the tunnels were an occasional drip of water and Kyuubi's breathing. What ever that sound had been it was neither of them.

A few moments passed before he was ready too chalk it up to his imagination. Turning back towards the door he began to walk forward again when he heard it again.

'What the crap was that!' Naruto yelled in his mind, spinning around again.

The faint sound came again, bouncing off the walls, making an eerie echo. Taking a deep breath Naruto tried to think logically about what it could be. Nothing came to mind.

'Well, I know it aint Kyuubi, he's on the other side of the door here and is still asleep or what ever he's doing,' he thought, 'maybe its rats? But in my mind? No, that's stupid.'

However, with that last thought Naruto realized something, 'oh yeah, I'm in my mind! What could possibly hurt me here? Well, except Kyuubi, but that's different.'

Making up his mind Naruto decided to head towards the sound. As he crept along the dank passageway he realized that he had never ventured anywhere besides the Kyuubi's cell while there. He had never had reason to of course, but still a little exploring couldn't have hurt.

The sound came back, reverberated off the walls and startling Naruto out off his thoughts. It was defiantly louder.

Now back in the present Naruto realized that as he continued on the tunnels were steadily growing darker. If he were someone else, a lesser person or someone that read a lot of horror fiction say, he probably would have shouted, "haiiiill no," and immediately ran in the other direction. As it was he was tempted to do just that but reminding himself that he was Uzumaki Naruto, future hokage and greatest ninja of all time! He made himself continue on.

The voice, he was very sure it was a voice now, continually got louder as the lighting continued to dim so that in a few moments he could barely see in front of him and he could finally hear what the voice said.

When he first understood what he was hearing he immediately felt an icy chill shoot down his spine. But a moment later realization of the situation hit him.

"Naruto," the voice called out, just as he remembered it in his dreams, "come."

With excitement, and more that a little apprehension, Naruto continued forward until he could no longer see his waving hand which was inches away from his face. He looked up expectantly and almost on queue a shining door appeared ahead.

Naruto soon stood in front of the door, hand hovering over the handle. He tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone completely dry without him noticing. He forced his hand down and grabbed the handle. Slowly turning the knob he steeled himself and then suddenly yanked the door open, as it to surprise what ever was on the other side. As he did so he heard a ripping sound and looked down. Half a seal, remarkably like the one on Kyuubi's cage, was attached to the door frame.

If he had been able to he undoubtedly would have wet himself, as it was he was just too scared to do so. He settled with shouting "haiiiill no!" and turned so he could run for all he was worth, conveniently forgetting that he was in his mind. As he took his first step away from the door the voice called out to him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Naruto?"

Turning back around slowly he looked through the doorway and towards the owner of the mysterious voice on the other end.

"Yondaime?," he croaked before immediately passing out.

XXXXX

End chap. 5

Questions? Comments? Advice? Review!

So how many of you were expecting that? I hope I can use this to give the story a twist so it doesn't end up as a boring replay of other time fics.

Do you guys have any suggestions for the questions that Sarutobi will ask Naruto? Anything you need clarified? Let me know!

And a high five to anyone who knows what movie I was thinking about when I wrote the disclaimer.

Clarification corner

Naruto has all the knowledge from his previous life but his body cant handle most of the techniques yet.

After they grow up some there will be some romance. Like I said before though, nothing perverted. Just fluffy type stuff.

Team 7 will end up closer than they were in the other time line.

Getting a beta isn't a bad idea, I'll see what I can do.

Sarutobi immediately went for his crystal ball when he saw the orange streak in the distance, so he saw everything.


	6. The end of a long day

Rewrite- 9/4/07

Chapter 6-The end of a long day

Disclaimer: I own boxes and some sheets, but not Naruto. Not Naruto. Sniff.

Thanks for all the reviews!

XXXXX

"…aruto…"

A voice called out to him in the darkness. The sound was immediately followed by a distant sense of pain, almost as though it were a different person experiencing it.

"NARUUTOO" the voice called again, this time sounding much closer. Again it was followed by pain. Naruto could now easily tell it was him that was feeling it. He carefully peeked opened his eyes to see what was happening.

'Yondaime?' he thought blearily. His memory of what had happened quickly returned.

"Oy! Naruto!" the Yondaime yelled from above him, slapping Naruto hard on swollen looking red cheeks. Apparently he hadn't noticed Naruto's eyes were already opened.

"Nar-oof!' the Yondaime was cut off as he was roughly shoved off Naruto.

"Oy! I'm already awake you freaken dumb blond," Naruto yelled springing up from the bed where he lay, rubbing his sore cheeks.

"Oh," the blond Hokage said rubbing the back of his head in a very narutoish way.  
The ensuing silence was deafening. Both stared at the other, not knowing what to say. Naruto suddenly had hundreds of questions coursing through his mind and didn't know where to start. His eyes briefly wandered around the small, plain looking room he was in, trying to find a respite from his swarming thoughts. The only thing in the room besides the two of them was the bed he had awoken on, and a few pipes wrapped around the walls.

'Not a very exciting place to live, but better than the kyuubi's cell I suppose,' he thought briefly.

"Man, you sure got the raw end of the deal; you don't look a thing like your mother," the young Hokage said softly suddenly breaking Naruto out of his thoughts.

"My… wait you know who my mother is," Naruto asked, his other questions temporarily forgotten.

"…yes," the Yondaime said, with a look on his face that said he hadn't meant to say that out loud. "But, I don't think that you're ready for that information yet."

Naruto felt greatly disappointed but took one look at his childhood hero's face and he knew he would get no more out of him on the subject. He could wait.

The silence returned and again questions began to fill Naruto's mind. Finally deciding on one, Naruto asked the question that had plagued him since he first found out about the Kyuubi.

He spoke two simple words, "Why me?"

Moments passed as the troubled Yondaime decided what to tell Naruto.

"There were several reasons," he finally responded, his voice sounding tired, "the most important being, first, that I needed a baby that had been born within the last few hours, and second," the Yondaime paused, and his face suddenly scrunched up in emotion. It took him several attempts to continue. "And second, I…I couldn't…how could I have possibly asked another parent to do what I could not?"

It took awhile for the Yondaime's words to sink in. As comprehension dawned on Naruto's face his eyes rose from the floor. His clear blue eyes met the Yondaime's own.

As a kid he remembered he had often day dreamed that the Yondaime was his father, and now to find out it was true…

As he tried to sort through his emotions he felt the Yondaime staring at him, waiting for some sort of response. Not knowing how he was supposed to feel or act at hearing this Naruto did the only thing he could do at the moment.

"How are you here? From what little I know about the technique that you used your soul should have been eaten by the death god."

The Yondaime looked disappointed at the change of subject but quickly decided it was best to give his son time to think on it. He quickly gathered his thoughts to explain what had happened with the shinigami.

"The first thing you have to understand is that this is a kinjutsu ( A/N-tr.- forbidden technique) of the most high magnitude. Because of this very little is known about it. What _is_ known can vary because you are summoning a sentient being and the outcome is affected by the beings thoughts. Do you understand?"

At this Naruto gave a quick nod.

"Good. Now, as you might have heard, this jutsu works by sacrificing your soul to the shinigami so that the shinigami will in turn use its power to remove the soul of your opponent. How it normally works is the shinigami then takes both souls and eats them, and the souls are then destined to fight for eternity in the death gods stomach. However, when I attempted to utilize the technique on the Kyuubi it proved too large and potent a soul for the shinigami to ingest." The Yondaime paused when he saw a confused look flash across Naruto's face before it was suppressed. "Basically it means that the Kyuubi was to big and strong to eat."

"Oh," Naruto said looking sheepish. He may not be as ignorant as he once was, but he still had stuff to learn.

"Yeeeah. Anyway, my theory is that since the shinigami couldn't completely fulfill his part of the bargain, as was set up by the jutsu, he decided to put me in the seal as well when he sealed the Kyuubi into you."

"I think I understand." Naruto said slowly after thinking a moment.

"Good. Now, since you got to ask a question or two, I get to ask one. How long has it been since the Kyuubi attacked? For me it has only been about seven or eight years but you look to be around seventeen or eighteen."

Startled Naruto looked down at himself. Snorting in disbelief he stared at his teenaged body. It was just as it was before he had come back in time, right down to the orange and black outfit. He really had to ask that dang fox just how the whole time travel thing worked, if the dang fox ever got around to waking up that is.

"Ah, well no, it's only been about seven and a half years. As for my appearance, well I guess there's a bit of a story behind that."

"Take your time, I aint exactly going anywhere," the Yondaime responded with a slightly confused yet wry smile.

"Ehehehe. Right, well it all began almost five years in the future…" Naruto plunged in.

Naruto spent the next while briefly explaining what had happened. He left out a lot of the details he had told Sandaime to save time, but at the same time added a few things to make it easier to understand, things he had had to leave out so the Sandaime didn't know too much. At first Naruto was unsure if he should be telling the older blond but quickly decided it was safe. The Yondaime was trapped in his head after all, who was he going to tell?

"I see," the Yondaime said as the story concluded, "that's quite a story. No, no I believe you," he raised his hands in defense at Naruto's look.

"Good," the shorter blond said.

"And it confirms something for me as well," the deceased Hokage said with a frown on his face.

"And what's that?"

Yondaime looked agitated for a moment, "nothing," he said finally.

"Hey, you can't do that. You've dodged enough questions. Now tell me what…"

Suddenly the room flashed black for a moment before returning to normal, stopping Naruto's rant in its tracks.

A grin spread across the Yondaime's face as he realized what had happened. "It looks like someone is trying to wake you up."

"Oh no you don't, you're not getting away that easily. We still have plenty to discuss, who ever it is can wait," Naruto said.

The room flashed black again, like someone was turning off and on a light.

"Looks like you may not have a choice. Besides, do you really want to worry whoever it is?" the Yondaime said, grin never leaving his face.

Realizing he had to go Naruto franticly searched for something to say to wipe the stupid grin off the young Hokage's face before he left. Finally he shrugged.

"Ah well, no big deal. I'll just come back when I'm through talking to who ever it is. Like you said earlier, you're not going anywhere."

Seeing the grin properly replaced by an annoyed frown Naruto immediately closed his eyes and focused, willing himself from the deepest reassesses of his mind to consciousness.

XXXXX

Sasuke looked on worriedly as Sakura shook Naruto again, this time harder than before. Tears were going down the little girls face and she seemed close to hysteria, why he had no idea. It was obvious that the young blond was just deep in meditation, much deeper than someone his age probably should have been able to go into but, hey, it was Naruto. Sasuke had seen the guy do other unexplainable stuff before, much of which he had seen moments ago while the blond was training. Beside it was obvious he was alive, Sasuke could see his shallow breathing from where he stood a few feet away.

"Sakura…" he began, not exactly knowing how to continue. He didn't have much experience dealing with girls after all. What if he said something wrong?

Noticing that she hadn't heard him, a little upset yet at the same time relieved that he had another moment to think of what to say, he started to speak again. The words died in his throat, however, when he saw Naruto slowly blink open his eyes.

It took a moment longer for Sakura to notice that Naruto's eyes were open, but when she did the reaction was immediate. She collapsed onto the fully awake boy's shoulder and started sobbing hysterically.

Naruto blinked in confusion for a few moments before looking at Sasuke, his eyes clearly asking 'what the heck is wrong'? Sasuke gave a shrug, which just as clearly meant 'I've known the girl for less time than you, so how am I supposed to know'? A few moments passed like this, both boys hoping that the other would think of something. Finally Naruto, after quickly preparing himself for what he had to do, placed his hands on either of Sakura's arms and pushed back, pulling the crying girls head from his now soggy shoulder. Sakura immediately tried to burry her head in his shoulder once more but Naruto kept a firm grip on her shoulders. Once she realized she wasn't going anywhere Sakura started rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands, trying desperately to get a hold of herself.

"Sakura," Naruto said in a soft voice, "what's the matter? Why are you crying?"

"B-because…," Sakura whispered, holding back her tears as best as she could, "I… you…"

Not quite hearing what she said he leaned closer, tilting his ear towards her mouth, "what was that?"

Sakura abruptly stood up, angry tears mixing with the sad. "Because, I thought you were dead!" she shouted and quickly turned her shaking body around and ran as best she could towards the village.

"But I'm not," Naruto yelled after her. He started after her but felt a grip on his arm.

"I don't get it, what could possibly have caused her to react like that?" Naruto said, turning back to Sasuke after a moment, with a confused look on his face.

"Hn, like I would know. You've known her longer," said Sasuke.

"Man, can this day get any crazier?" Naruto shouted in frustration.

"Hn?"

"Nothing," Naruto said lowering his head with a sigh, "in any case I think its time I go home."

"Hey, what about training?"

"We'll have to skip today Sasuke, tomorrow should still be on though, so I'll see you then."

"Hn, whatever, its not like its important anyway," Sasuke said, a pouting look crossing his face briefly before he turned his back to Naruto and started heading towards the village.

Naruto half raised his hand to stop him, but let it drop. He really did need to get home and talk to the Yondaime again.

Naruto muttered to himself as he began the walk to his apartment. It took him only a few moments to get home and drop down into his bead. He lay there for a moment and wished he could just fall asleep, this day had been crazy enough already after all. Tiredly he pulled himself into a sitting position, propping his back against his wall. Trying to delay a moment longer what he knew was going to be an emotionally draining experience he looked out his open window, eyes immediately going to the Hokage monument. He looked over each face in turn naming them as he went. There was the Shodaime, who founded the village, welcoming clans with unique bloodlines who were shunned elsewhere. Then there was the Nidaime, the Shodaime's younger brother, who built Konoha's forces from a lesser village to arguably the greatest village in existence. And then there was the Sandaime, also known as the professor. He wrote the majority of Konoha's laws that were currently in existence. He was also known for being the one who granted Uchiha Mandara permission to start the Konoha police force. Finally there was the Yondaime, Konoha's Yellow Flash, who had earned his nickname as well as the title of Hokage when he had beaten well over half of the stones forces during the Stone Leaf war. While it was said the Sandaime had been the strongest Hokage it was said that the Yondaime had had the greatest potential, and that he would have outstripped the old man by quite a bit had he been given the chance. He had been Naruto's hero growing up, not only because he had shared similar physical attributes with him, or because he was so incredibly strong, but because he had been so willing to give his life for something he loved.

Yes, the Yondaime. Hero of the leaf stone war, Hokage with potential outstripping even the Sandaime, defeater of the infamous demon lord Kyuubi, and… Naruto's father.

The parent he had always wanted, but never had. The person that sealed the Kyuubi into him the day he was born, thereby dooming him to a life of misery. The man that had revealed himself to be sealed in Naruto, for the first time in either time lines.

What was he supposed to say to the person who had cursed his life? Sure he had been able to shoot off a few questions when he had talked to him before, but what was he supposed to say now, how was he supposed to act? Should he treat him like his long lost father, as his villages most respected Hokage, or as the man that had placed a curse on his vary existence the day he was born?

Naruto looked around the much dimmed room in confusion. Glancing at the clock he blinked in surprise, a little over an hour had passed.

Realizing that he wouldn't get anymore from thinking Naruto took a few deep breaths before slipping into his subconscious.

XXXXX

Catching a glimpse of pink through the crowded Konoha streets, Sasuke speed up. He turned a corner moments after his pink haired quarry and quickly found her again through an opening in the crowd.

"Hey, um…Sakura! Sakura! Wait up!" the young Uchiha yelled speeding through the quickly closing gap.

Feeling a bit annoyed Sakura wiped her face with her shirt sleeves before turning around. Her mom was going to be back from work soon and would be mad if Sakura wasn't there.

"What?" Sakura said bluntly having lost most of her shyness around him earlier, though only after spending a good part of the day with him. It was funny though, she suddenly realized, she had spent more time with Naruto than him but still felt shyer around the young blond...

Sasuke stopped a few feet away from her and tried to catch his breath. This also gave him a chance to think of what to say. It had been maybe fifteen minutes since he and Naruto had left the clearing, each heading there own ways.

"Just thought I should walk you home, you know since it's getting late. And we were supposed to be training together, in case you forgot," Sasuke managed after a moment.

"Fine, come on." Sakura said, secretly glad for the company. She didn't like being out by herself during the evening, it was scary.

They started walking towards Sakura's apartment, Sakura half a step in front to lead the way. Sasuke was glad that she had automatically started leading the way. He didn't know the area very well, though he was sure he would be able to find his way home from her house. Pretty sure.

After a few minutes walking Sakura started fidgeting, opening her mouth a few times as if trying too say something but snapping it shut before anything could get out. Finally she took a deep breath.

"So… what did Naruto do after I left?"

"Nothing really, just said that he was tired and that training was still on tomorrow. He did seem pretty confused though. About the way you acted, you know?"

"Oh."

They walked around an older villager that was in there way before turning down Sakura's street, which was much less crowded than the one they had been on. Sasuke shot Sakura a glance.

"So why did you act that way?" Sasuke asked after he realized that Sakura wasn't going to say anything else.

"I will be fine from here, Sasuke." Sakura said ignoring his question and heading towards her now visible house.

"But…ok, see you tomorrow." Sasuke said as he watched her walk to her house.

After she had let herself in Sasuke looked around. Ok, so now he had to get home. He slowly looked around to get his bearings. There was Sakura's house, and there was Naruto's ramen stand, which means he had to go to the right, right? Or was it the left?

"Dang it!"

XXXXX

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Naruto opened his eyes. He was back in the sewer-of-the-seal, a place he assumed represented his subconscious. He cursed and leaped to the side as a drop of something wet fell on the top of his head. He realized of course that whatever it was wasn't real, but it was still gross. Why couldn't his subconscious look like a field of wild flowers, or better yet a ramen stand? Heck, he didn't care what it looked like so long as it wasn't a smelly, drippy, and uncomfortably wet sewer. Maybe he could ask Ino about it later.

Sigh…much later.

Another drop of…something splattered on Naruto's head causing him to increase his grumbling. Finally he sighed and started to walk towards the room he had met his fath-, or rather the Yondaime, right? Or maybe he should he call him… ah, what ever, the room he met _that_ guy in.

He had only taken a few steps when he felt a gust of wind come out of seemingly nowhere and nearly blow him off his feet. Sinking down into a defensive position he looked around for what could have made the wind. After a few moments of nothing else happening and not being able to sense anything other than himself he warily started walking again, wisely deciding that it would be best to keep track of his surroundings, even if this was just his mind. A few moments later another blast of warm wind rushed past him. Luckily he had heard it rushing towards him and had been prepared, that one would have knocked him over easily. It was getting stronger.

Not being able to sense anything again Naruto moved on, his senses working as strong as he could possibly make them. A door way soon appeared on his right, one that he had used often through his past life, especially towards the end, but that wasn't where he was planning on going just then. As he began to pass the door he paused for a brief second, trying to decide whether or not he should go through it after all, or if he should continue on to the one he had just found earlier that day. He quickly decided that he would continue on and check that room after he was coming back from the Yondaime's.

Suddenly the door he was about to walk past blasted open and a powerful gust of hot air crashed into him from the door way, slamming him against the far wall. An enormous and ancient sounding voice boomed out, making him cover his ears.

"Oy brat, come here."

That voice.

A wave of emotions crashed into Naruto as he heard that voice. Fear, excitement, relief, anger, confusion, weariness, and oddly enough, joy. Shaking himself he slowly started to walk forward. He passed through the doorway into a gigantic room that held giant sized prison bars, which divided the room in two. His eyes reached the gates, their golden color reflecting the light of the torches placed around the room and in the center a strip of paper with the kanji Seal on it held the gate doors locked. And then his eyes reached past it, into the room beyond. Its prisoner lay in its center, his massive head resting on his equally massive paws, his red eyes glaring at his jailer.

The Kyuubi was back.

XXXXX

Hot dang, another chapter at last. Well, honestly it was supposed to be longer but I decided that I'd put the rest of what I planed in the next chapter. In any case it's better than nothing, eh?

Please review!!! We likes the reviews, don't we precious.

Man life can be pretty crazy. Last week I moved to my new home, this past week I attended my brothers wedding and reception and then went to another siblings birthday party, where I saw another sibling and his family who flew in from south bend, having missed my aforementioned brothers wedding because of weather, today I also got into a fight with my room mate before i went to visit my family at my old house. All the while having a full work week, trying to relax because of nasty stress problems I have, getting used to the new rout to work, dealing with having no air conditioning in my car (I live in Arizona by the way and it's a good 20 min to work) and constantly worrying about my health, which hasn't been very good for a while now.

Sorry about the whine-fest but I needed to rant to somebody. Sniff, thanks.

Peace.

Clarification Corner

-Someone suggested that I change what happened with Neji's dad and all that, but that all happened in the past. The rooky nine are around the six to seven age right now and the Hyuuga thing happened when they were all three to four. So no can do.

-I have received the ideas for my story and picked which ones I am probably going to use. If im going to use your stuff I'll let you know and thank you for it. I won't be using everybody's stuff but thank you everyone who sent ideas.


	7. And it begins again

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: If I had a million dollars, I'd be rich. I still wouldn't have enough to own Naruto though….

XXXXX

"_Oy brat, come here."_

_That voice._

_A wave of emotions crashed into Naruto as he heard that voice. Fear, excitement, relief, anger, confusion, weariness, and oddly enough, joy. Shaking himself he slowly started to walk forward. He passed through the doorway into a gigantic room that held giant sized prison bars, which divided the room in two. His eyes reached the gates, their golden color reflecting the light of the torches placed around the room and in the center a strip of paper with the kanji Seal on it held the gate doors locked. And then his eyes reached past it, into the room beyond. Its prisoner lay in its center, his massive head resting on his equally massive paws, his red eyes glaring at his jailer._

_The Kyuubi was back._

XXXXX

Chapter 7

XXXXX

The Kyuubi felt tired, and that was something that hadn't happened for many thousands of years. The energy that it had taken to send them both back in time had completely drained him, almost killing him even. It had taken a long time for him to regain enough energy to get himself going again, but now, even though he was still tired, he was able to move and speak, and even lend a little power to his host for healing purposes. He'd been waiting for the brat to come ever since he had first started healing his pitiful body again but he hadn't. And now that he _was_ finally here all he could do was stare with his jaw hanging open.

"Just how long do you plan on just standing there looking at me, brat?" the Kyuubi's voice echoed off the walls of the chamber.

"K-kyuubi?" Naruto finally managed. "Where have you been."

"Been? Where the heck do you think? The seal is still as strong as ever."

Suddenly Naruto started laughing hysterically, "And here I thought this day couldn't get any crazier. Knock on wood, eh?"

"What are you blabbering about? And stop that awful sounding noise."

Naruto gradually stopped laughing and wiped his eyes on his jackets sleeve.

"That's better," growled the Kyuubi, "now, how long has it been since we came back and what's happened?"

Taking a few calming breaths Naruto quickly recounted everything that had happened the last two weeks. The Kyuubi paced back and forth in his cage, making various noises as the story unfolded. By the time Naruto was done speaking the Kyuubi was growling angrily.

"You thick headed little brat! How could you be so stupid?"

"huh," Naruto looked at Kyuubi with a confused look.

"You've actually told Sarutobi about it? What were you thinking? And already you've started changing things; the future grows foggy before even a month has past!"

"What was I thinking?" Naruto growled back, suddenly angry, "I was thinking that he is a person smarter than myself. I was thinking that you weren't around and I would need all the help I could get too stop the countless needless deaths that happen in the future. I was thinking that it was the only way to avoid troublesome circumstances in the future and what eventually could have become a irreversible trap of lies. He did see me doing stuff that I couldn't just explain away, after all."

"Grrr… humph. Just remember, brat, this is a one time thing. There is no going back and trying again, it would kill us both. Messing up this time line takes only one mistake and all this could all be for nothing. Hell, it could end up worse."

"One time thing, huh," Naruto said, stark realization draining his anger.

There was silence between them as Naruto was brutally reminded of his responsibility.

"Yondaime," he said a moment later, "Why didn't you tell me about the Yondaime? If not him being in the seal than at least that he was my father. There's no way you couldn't have known. So why?"

"Would you openly talk about the being you despise most in the world if our roles were reversed? Besides me and you aren't exactly bosom buddies. I'm still a demon and you're still a human, even if you aren't quite as useless as the rest of them."

"How come I never met him in the other timeline?"

"Because the seal absorbed him before you found out about me originally. His energy acted as a buffer between me and you until you'd gained enough chakra to fuel the accursed seal yourself. Which, coincidentally is why you have always had so much chakra, both our energies have been pushing at your coils ever since the day I was sealed inside you."

Naruto didn't hear the last part of what Kyuubi said, he was lost in his thoughts. If he were somewhere else besides deep in his own mind he would probably be sick. He had _absorbed _the Yondaime? His own father? A part of him realized that he couldn't possibly be held responsible for it but he still felt ill.

'That must be what he was talking about before I left before,' Naruto realized.

"Oy, brat. I expect you to listen when I talk to you. Brat?... BRAT"

Startled Naruto looked up from his musing. "Huh? What?"

"Before you turn all angsty on me I'll remind you that it hasn't happened yet, not fully at least. And since we came back there hasn't been enough energy in the seal for him to fight against. Not that it's a problem at all anymore since you tore his part of the seal."

"You mean it won't happen this time?" Naruto said hopefully.

"I didn't say that," the Kyuubi responded causing Naruto's face to drop, "I specifically said it _can't_ happen. Besides your spirit is causing your body to change at an accelerated rate, the more time that passes the less danger he will be in. By the time the Yondaime would have disappeared you're chakra level will be at where it was when the war started."

Naruto sank to his knees in relief.

"If I fail at everything else and nothing else changes at least this one thing has changed for the better." Naruto said in relief, "At least this one thing."

Suddenly Naruto felt very tired. Ignoring the Kyuubi's protests he returned to consciousness. So much had happened in the short time he had came back. He'd meet Sakura, Sasuke, and Shikamaru. He'd befriended his two future teammates and agreed to start training them. He'd revealed most of what was too happen to the Sandaime. He'd meet his childhood hero, who was supposed to be dead, and found out he was really his father. And he had been reunited with the Kyuubi, which he had actually been happy about.

And there was still so much to do. So much that could go wrong.

There were many things that he would have to think about, but at least he wasn't alone, he realized groggily as he began to drift to sleep. He had the three most powerful beings in the village to lend him their minds, if nothing else. But that was for tomorrow to think about…

…

XXXXX

"…58, 59, 60!" Naruto stood up from where he had been doing pushups and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. Looking at the progress of the recently risen sun had made in the sky he stretched his tired arms and smiled.

He looked around the small green clearing he was standing in hoping to see his young friends approaching. Not seeing anyone he shrugged and started his next exercise. It was still a little early. If he was a little over-eager it couldn't be helped, after all it was his responsibility to make them stronger. He didn't want a repeat of last time.

Which brought up another problem for him, he still had to think of ways to approach his other would-be friends, namely the two other teams in the rookie nine and Gai's team. He had to get them all to start taking their training seriously earlier on. All he had thought of on the subject so far was the possibility of sparking some sort of rivalry with them and/or between them.

A twig snapping to his right broke him out of his musings. Glancing over he saw Sakura timidly walk into the clearing, a nervous blush on her face. Getting up from where he was doing sit-ups he walked over to where she was. He of course hadn't forgotten about the strange occurrence the day before where she had burst into tears and ran away. He had no idea what it all could have been about, but for some reason he couldn't help feeling guilty.

"Morning, Sakura-chan! Um, about yesterday…" he began awkwardly.

Sakura looked down, letting her medium length hair cover her face, however Naruto could still see her blush deepen.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'll understand if you don't want me around anymore."

"What?" he blinked in surprise, "Of course I still want you around. You're my friend, and it will always be that way no matter what Sakura-chan. I wanted to apologize for scaring you yesterday. I still don't understand what happened, but I don't have too."

A few moments passed in silence and Naruto was getting worried, he reached a hand out and put it on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze, the next thing he knew he was held in a tight hug. He was startled for a moment and didn't know what to do, but as the shock wore off he gently wrapped his arms around his young friend.

"You're my friend too, Naruto-kun. And thanks for saying you don't need to know what happened, I don't really want to talk about it yet."

Before he could respond he heard a cough on his right. He looked in the direction it came from, reminding himself to up his chakra sensing capacity.

"I could come back in a few minutes if you want," Sasuke said with an embarrassed look on his face.

"No, that's ok Sasuke," Naruto responded taking a step away from Sakura as she released him, feeling somewhat embarrassed himself for some reason.

"Good morning, Sasuke-san," Sakura said after wiping her face off with her sleeve. She sniffed her runny nose.

"Here," Naruto pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and handed it too her.

"Thanks."

"your welcome," Naruto responded with a smile. When Sakura finished blowing her nose he continued, " now, are you two ready to get started?"

Upon seeing the twin bobbing heads of his young friends he continued, "Ok first we need to set up the rules. First, when I'm teaching you you need to call me either Naruto-sensei or just Sensei. Second, during training you both need to do exactly as I say without arguing or complaining. I know what methods works best and you can be assured that I will never let either of you get hurt in any way. Third, you can't show or tell anybody about what I teach you. Well be starting academy soon and you will already know some of the stuff that they are going too teach, but you need to pretend that you don't."

"Why?" Sasuke asked, clearly curious.

'because if people knew the truth they would get suspicious of me and everything could be ruined,' Naruto thought.

"Because a good shinobi will always hide their true skills." He said out loud. "Not only will you not stand out, which can be a very bad thing in the shinobi world, but it makes your opponent underestimate you, which can greatly increase the probability of you winning against your opponent should you ever be in a life or death fight." Naruto said out loud.

Sasuke nodded his acceptance to the answer, though he was a little disappointed he wouldn't be able to show off.

"Before we continue you both must agree too my conditions. So, do you agree?"

"Hai," they responded in unison.

"Good," Naruto smiled as a rush of excitement flowed through him. "The first thing a shinobi must have is a healthy body, and they best thing to do for that is to eat properly and to exercise. Obviously I can't do anything about what you eat so I'll be focus on training your bodies. One of the most healthy things for you to do is to run, so lets start with that."

One mile and a twenty minutes later two heavily panting children stumbled back into the clearing they had started in, coming to a stop in front of their blond sensei who had arrived a few moments before. Neither of the panting children failed to notice that Naruto wasn't breathing hard at all.

"Alright, I went easy on you because it's the first day but expect to cut that time down by at least 5 minutes tomorrow. I'll give you a few moments to cool down."

A few moments passed and the rosy faces of Sasuke and Sakura stood ready before Naruto.

"The second thing a shinobi must have is a healthy mind, and so we'll be doing meditation exercises. Also you should look into learning how to play shougi, you can ask your parents about it when you get home. Sasuke, you can continue where we left off the other day, Sakura come with me."

Leaving Sasuke the two walked a short distance away and, at Naruto's instruction, sat down.

"Do you know anything about meditation Sakura?"  
"No, Naruto-sensei," Sakura said nervously.

Naruto smiled at her reassuringly, "It's nothing to be ashamed about, it's not something most kids learn about until they start the academy. Meditation is the calming and organizing of the mind through quiet yet constant thought, reflection, and contemplation. It can help you see things that you would normally miss when just thinking normally, it allows you think in a more organized way in everyday life, and has many other advantages, among which is the ability too unlock your chakra. Without meditation unlocking your chakra is impossible. Sasuke was taught to meditate already and so he's a little ahead of you, however by starting now you'll be ahead of most of the kids in the academy so don't feel bad. Any questions so far?"

"No, Naruto-sensei."

"Lets begin then. First, find a comfortable position. As a beginner you will be distracted easily by things around you, but I want you to try to phase those things out as best you can, being comfortable should take at least some distraction away. Now, I want you to close your eyes and then clear your mind as best you can." Naruto paused for a few moments and then continued in a gentler voice. "Once you clear your mind take a deep breath and then slowly expel it… good, now do it again except this time I want you to time your breath. Seven seconds in, hold for seven, seven seconds out, and then hold for seven again. Continue until you no longer need to count for your breathing."

Naruto watched her twitching eyelids closely, every twitch representing another thought going through her head. It would taker her awhile yet to perfect meditation but he knew she would, she was always good at that sort of thing after all.

XXXXX

Sarutobi watched as Naruto instructed the young Haruno and Uchiha. He had expected something like this to happen. But it still left him uneasy.

He wanted to believe the boy, he really did, but it was all just so far fetched. Something deep within him told him to believe the boy but he knew better than to let emotions make his decisions. He'd seen many people do things they shouldn't have because of misguided emotions and he couldn't afford to make the same mistake.

Taking a deep pull from his pipe he placed the crystal ball in his desk drawer, leaving it open a crack so he could peep every now and then. He had a lot of paper work to do and the constant distractions from worrying about the boy weren't helping.

Much later he put his pen down and arched his back, a loud pop a reward for his actions. With a gratifying sigh he looked at his clock. It was about 2 o'clock in the after noon. His stomach rumbled reminding him that he had missed lunch again, something his personal doctor would berate him for if he found out. Getting up he left his office telling his secretary that he would be out for a while. Stepping out of the building he took a deep breath of air before heading down the road, he new exactly what he wanted for his snack, something he wasn't allowed to have often because of its unhealthiness. Lousy personal doctor.

The sun was to his left as he walked down the street, and at such an angle that his hokage hat barely shaded its rays from his eyes. Occasionally a civilian or one of his Shinobi would pass by and greet him. He always returned there greetings with a smile and a nod.

He spotted the small restaurant after a few moments and breathed deeply.

'Ahhh, ramen,' He sighed as the scent filled his nose. He was glad that he had been able to help his old friend start the place up.

As he drew closer he heard talking in the stand. It didn't take long to recognize the voice. Sarutobi paused, half preparing to find another place to eat, but changed his mind.

"...and then I said 'ok if you're sure you can find your way by yourself' and he did his annoying little 'hn' thing and so I pretended to walk away. Then…"

The young blond stopped talking and looked up as Sarutobi sat down next to him.

"Hello, Naruto." The old Hokage said with a tentative smile.

"Hey, old man…" Naruto paused for a moment before turning to his ramen.

Ichiraku looked back and forth with raised eyebrows.

Sarutobi cleared his throat, "I'll have a bowel of chicken ramen please."

"Sure Sarutobi, uhh, it might take a moment though," the ramen chef replied sensing that the two would need some time to talk.

"How are you doing to day, Naruto?"

Naruto pushed back his empty ramen bowel and turned to face his Hokage.

"Just fine oji-san. So have you thought about what I said," he said, jumping right in.

"Yes, a great deal as a matter of fact."

"And?"

"Sigh, I want to believe you Naruto-"

Naruto's face split into a smile.

"-but I can't. Not yet."

The smile held for a moment before fading. Sarutobi continued.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now Naruto, I don't sense any of the Kyuubi's influence in you and I don't feel any ill intent, but what you suggest is simply unheard of. I can and will not put the interest of this village on my own personal feeling on this matter. Especially without some sort of proof."

With a small nod a slightly disheartened Naruto got up from his bench and left the stand.

XXXXX

The next few days past without incident leaving Naruto to ponder on things to come and to plan for them to the best of his ability. Finally the morning arrived that Naruto would start the academy. He happily got ready knowing that he would see more of his old friends today.

Naruto's wardrobe had changed greatly since his arrival in the current time line. He had taken his advice to sasuke to heart and decided that he would no longer try to stand out. He also opted for more physically practical attire for Shinobi such as a mesh under shirt. It had sure cost him a fortune though, even with all his savings he almost wasn't able to get it. As it was poor Gama-chan would never be the same.

flashback

_Naruto walked into a store intent on finally ridding himself of his orange jump suite, something he had meant to do since he got back. He browsed around for a few moments before he heard a shout coming from the front of the store._

"_What do you think your doing in my store freak!"_

_Twirling around he was startled for a moment by the angry and slightly frightened look on the shop keepers face, then he remembered that this particular shop keeper had yet to accept him. He would in the future and would even offer an additional discount for his previous behavior, but currently he looked closer to giving Naruto a kick in the rear-end than a discount. _

_Naruto hastily apologized and left the store slightly discouraged and wondering where he was going to be able to shop. It was a few moments later that an idea struck him. He laughed at his own stupidity._

_A few moments later he walked back into the store with a smirk on his face. As soon as the teller saw him he smiled at him and moved from behind the counter. _

"_Is there anything I can do for you today, Uchiha-san."_

"_I'll just be browsing for now, thank you." The henged blond said as haughtily as he could, an obvious dismissal for the shop keeper. _

"_Very good sir, just let me know if you need something." The shop keeper scurried away, leaving a very smug Naruto behind._

end flashback

Quickly inhaling the last of his ramen, and already yearning for the next morning when he would allow himself to have more of his favorite food, Naruto grabbed his ninja gear and a small backpack with school supplies and a modest lunch inside and ran out the door. It was time to begin fixing the future by changing his past.

XXXXX

Sakura was playing in a swing that was in front of the school, while sasuke was leaning on a tree across from it watching his friend play. They both walked over to meet Naruto as he approached. They had been previously told to ignore the whispers and rude comments directed at their friend so they did just that, though it made them upset.

"Hey, guys" Naruto said with a smile as they met in front of the schools main entrance. They had both progressed nicely, even if he had been training them for only a week. Sasuke had been able to tap his chakra the day before and sakura had gotten meditation down rather well. He planned to have them and the rest of his friends at Chuunin level by the time they graduated if at all possible.

But first he would have to meet his other friends again. If he had had someone to openly talk to he would undoubtedly have admitted he was nervous about seeing them again. His flashbacks and nightmares still bothered him, even if they weren't quite so potent as they were the first day when he had met sakura. He wasn't so foolish to think that seeing them all again wouldn't have an effect on him but he knew he had to face it, there was no other option.

"Hey, Naruto-kun", Sakura said with a smile. She was wearing the same outfit she had worn when they had met in the forest clearing all those day ago, a pink shirt with white petals drifting on it and simple loose black shorts. The only difference was a ribbon that Naruto had given her holding her hair up and out of her face which she nervously fingered now and then.

"Hn," Sasuke said, smirking to himself at his friend's response. He wore the same outfit he always did. The traditional Uchiha blue shit complete with clan symbol and a pair of kaki shorts.

A bell rang from somewhere in the school and everyone started towards there predestined class room. As his emotions wavered Naruto found himself walking slightly in front of his friends one second and slightly behind the next. By the time they reached the classroom the young Haruno and Uchiha were looking at there friend oddly.

"What I'm just nervous," Naruto pouted at them noticing the looks. They shrugged and accepted it, but of course they didn't know what all he was nervous about.

Seeing his old friends… he felt so thrilled, and yet so scared. Thrilled that he would see friends he watched die and thought lost forever. Scared of how he would react and that he would live to see them die all over again as he had in his dreams.

He reached over to the door but his hand froze on the handle. He stood there for a moment while his friends waited impatiently for him to open the door.

"Hey, are you just going to stand there all day or what," a voice said to his left.

He looked into the face of a young Ino who scowled at him impatiently.

flashback

"Hey are you just going to stand there all day or what," Ino shouted, shoving the weary doctor away form the prone form of her boyfriend.

"But there's nothing we can do, Ino-san," the doctor said as he slowly moved away, "We must save our chakra for those we have a hope of saving."

"Shut up, fool!! You don't know anything. I was taught by Tsunade herself, or have you forgotten I am one of the three **Eisei-nisou**." She turned to the boy she loved and popped her last soldier pill into her mouth. A wave of dizziness and exhaustion hit her and she tried to shake it off. Doing a few quick hand signs she placed her hands on the prone figure of her team mate and pushed everything she had into him.

"Naruto-san!" a medic yelled as Naruto walked into the tent they were in and placed a injured shinobi on an empty cot.

"Yeah?" Naruto said warily as he was about to walk out of the tent.

"You must tell Ino-sama to stop. She'll kill herself at this rate."

Naruto looked in the direction the doctor was pointing and cursed.

"Ino!"

The girl paid no heed to the yelling blond behind her. Neither did she pay any attention to her rapidly depleting chakra reserves or the flood of sweat that was pouring off of her face.

'Just a second longer.' She kept muttering to her self. Repeating her mantra under her breath.

Naruto watched as Ino suddenly froze and fell forward onto the person she was trying so hard to fix. She was dead.

A second later Chouji's hand made its way to rest on her head before his last breath left him, his deadly clans pills finally doing what everyone knew they would.

Naruto stared at the two for a moment and then left. Wherever he went he left the corpses of his friends behind.

And so ended the evening of the second day.

flashback end

"Sorry," Naruto said opening the door and standing aside for her to enter.

"You feeling okay Naruto-kun?," Sakura said looking at her friend in concern. He had broken out in a cold sweat.

"Yeah, come on."

Naruto did his best to keep his eyes firmly placed onto the ground, no longer daring to look into the faces of the people whom he had lost, knowing what would happen if he did.

"Hey, your that kid form the forest," a dark haired boy suddenly called form the other side of the classroom.

Naruto glanced up on reflex to look at the young Nara. He managed a small wave.

He tried to bring his eyes back to the floor but his eyes wandered on their own accord.

Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Chouji, Ino, Shikamaru.

Suddenly the fear that dwelt in the back of his head, the fear of loosing them, the fear of seeing them die over and over again, suddenly… that fear was gone. In its place appeared a fierce resolve. Things would be different this time; he'd make sure of it.

Naruto and the rest of the young team 7 found seats in the front of the room where they could sit together. Which coincidentally happened to be the last three seats left, apparently the front row wasn't a sought after sitting place.

Naruto was patiently looking at the clock and wondering where the teacher could be when the class door was swiftly swung open.

Naruto sat there confused for a moment. Iruka hadn't been his teacher until his last year when his previous teacher had tried to have him thrown out, yet in walked Iruka.

The first thing Naruto noticed was how young Iruka looked and he realized that Iruka couldn't have been more than 17 when he took the position as teacher. Seeing his friend at the age he was what he came back from the future was weird.

"Ahem, sorry could we be quiet please." The newly appointed Chuunin spoke in a quiet but firm voice.

Naruto looked around the room fearfully as most of his classmates ignored him and kept on talking. He motioned for sasuke and sakura to cover their ears.

"SHUT UP YOU NOISY BRATS OR ITS DETENTION FOR EVERYONE."

The class instantly quieted down, some staring in open shock at Iruka, minds unable to process how a human head could grow ten times its original size in an instant.

Chouji was cool with it.

"Ahem, now, my name is Iruka and by the orders of the Hokage I will be teaching this class. As many of you might have realized I am not the one originally supposed to be teaching this class, however the Hokages orders are absolute."

Though he was careful not to show any out word sign Naruto was doing a little dance in his head.

"Now as you all should know this is a five year course. During those years you will be taught and trained in many different ways. By the time we're done you will be Genin level shinobi. If of course you wish to try out earlier you are more then welcome to try, however you must wait until the end of your second year to do so. And if you fail to pass the test three times you will not get another chance, so I suggest you think it over and prepare wisely. As it is, most, if not all of you, will be waiting until the fifth year to even try."

Naruto couldn't help chuckling to himself at that. He personally had gotten his headband _after_ his third and last try. 'I wonder if I can get Iruka to give me his headband again' he thought with a grin.

"Is something funny …Uzumaki" Iruka said, making pretence of looking at the class's picture roster to get the name. Of course Naruto knew Iruka already knew his name.

"No, sir." Naruto replied promptly.

"Good," Iruka said with a passive look on his face.

Naruto had a grim smile on his face after that. He was well aware of how Iruka had felt about him when they had first met, and it wasn't all that great. He'd have to do something about that soon.

The rest of the day passed without incident, mainly consisting of an overview of what would be covered during the year and the class introducing itself. Eventually the school day ended it was time to go home.

XXXXX

-end chap-

Hey guys! Long time no see, huh? I… wait, what are you doing with that bat? No! stop! thunk ahhhhhhhhh thwap ughhhhh splurp ooooooooooooooooh!

…

Cough, cough. Ahem, well for anyone who cares I'm still alive. What's it been now? A year? A year and a half? Eh, who's counting. Life goes on and time stand still for no man. I had originally planned on adding more to this chapter, however a nasty virus called procrastination-itious stopped me from doing so. I figured I should just post what I got and see about moving on from there.

It really surprises me that all this time later I still get the occasional review. It really guilt-tripped me into posting this.

Please review, and not just the "good job!," type if you can help it. I need this whole thing criticized to the max. Make it constructive though, no flaming.

Thanks.


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